Perfection
by Chibi Tsuki
Summary: Lucretzia's intelligent, beautiful, kind, sporty and cheerful but she lacks one thing in order to become perfect; proper manners. Her father sends her to a boarding school in the Sank Kingdom to learn to become a lady...
1. Prologue

**Perfection**

Chibi Tsuki 

**_A/N__: Sorry about not going on with the other ZxN that's still on its first chapter. But I've been tied to a few assignments at school (ALREADY) even though it's the third week of school. But I have managed to get this up. I know I had the fairy tale in mind but I lost it and so instead, I came up with this one to 'pay the price'. Expect humour… heaps of it. This way I can probably think of longer chapters… when I sleep during chapel and assembly… ^^;; I'm really naughty aren't I? Save the spanking for later! *runs off*_**

**Prologue**

The door flung open, revealing the passengers aboard the private jet. The first passenger to walk out was tall, well man, wearing garments of fine material and well-polished leather shoes. He wore a black business suit and under that a white business shirt. A quick glance at him and everyone knew that he was a wealthy man, providing that he spoke in utter politeness around people, including those less well off. Behind him was a beautiful woman, So beautiful that she even passed as one in her late-twenties. Her grace was admired by all as she walked with a hand on the side rail as her shoes clanked softly under her. Waiting down the bottom for the pair was the chauffer and butler, ready to greet the pair.

"Signore how was your trip to Asia?" the rather old butler questioned with a smile.

"Very good thank you Andre," the man uttered, placing a hand on the butler's shoulder. 

"So signore, what shall it be; back home or the ball tonight?" 

Looking up at the afternoon sky, his master said, "Let us retire at home tonight for it will be another engaged day tomorrow." 

"Yes sir." Andre motioned for the chauffer to push the luggage trolley into the airport where they finished the rest of the procedures before departing the airport in the white limousine waiting directly outside. 

Arriving at the massive palace, the car waited as the gate opened before driving in the loop and stopping right below the white and shining stairs. As the man stepped out of the vehicle, a young seventeen year old girl greeted him. "Welcome home Father, Mother," the dark-haired beauty smiled. 

"It's good to see you again my little darling," the woman spoke cheerily, placing a hand on her daughter's cheek. "My, you've grown." 

"Yes Mother."

Her father turned to her and questioned, "Where's my little one?" 

"She's in her room."

"Let's go in and have dinner." He led the other two into the house, passing through the wide wooden doors painted in a mahogany colour. As he stepped through the front door, his maids greeted him formally, "Good evening signore." The words chorused through the hallways as he made his way to the dining hall. Decorating his dining hall were portraits of his ancestors, each as successful as the one before. The bright glow of lights illuminated from the ceiling, lightening up the dark. "Dinner shall be served soon," the maid informed, bowing her head slightly before leaving the room 

"Call my daughter down for me," he ordered in a monotone, not on purpose though. His daughter and wife sat down at the dining table, discussing about their future plans to come. "Aleena, I've found you a suitor from France. You are to meet with him tomorrow morning so you will need to dress more formally." He took a quick look at his daughter's dress. It was fairly formal already, skip the simple hairdo and she would've been easily able to present herself to the public. Thumping downstairs, a girl showed up in the room, her hair in a bizarre mess and her tracksuit rather creased, or as a matter of fact, too creased. She wore a pair of tattered slippers on her feet. "Why are you wearing a tracksuit to dinner with you hair in a mess?!" her father demanded, a deadly expression on his face. "If you wear a tracksuit at least you don't a crumpled one… with holes!"

The young girl only rolled her eyes and protested, "They're my favourite ones and besides I've just wash my hair." She looked at him expressionlessly. "And the first thing you say to me after half a year of not seeing me is that I'm wearing a tracksuit to dinner with my hair in a mess. That's just not right Father." 

"No more words from you young lady just go to your room and change something more decent and that means **no jeans ****or cargos! Get it?" She opened her mouth to speak but a quick glance from her mother silenced her and instead trudged back upstairs to her room, growling a quiet curse of complaint. So many her father wasn't so formal at home like he was towards his guests, even to his butler but ****not to his youngest daughter. She was 'an exception'.**

Quickly grabbing a skirt and a dress, the raven-haired teen pulled them on and combed her short hair quickly; trying her best to brush her fringe to the side but it just didn't work out for her. From her wardrobe, she grabbed a pair of sandals and slipped them onto her bare feet and ran back downstairs, looking like an absolutely different being than before. Her father made no remark and instead lifted the wineglass gingerly and took a sip of the luxurious red wine; of an expensive brand. Or in this case the 'ancient liquor' from the well-stocked cellar. "Lucretzia dear, has your school report arrived yet?" Antonio Noin questioned in a softer voice, trying to suppress the unhappy tone in the air.

"Yes Father," Lucretzia replied, grabbing for the wine from her mother's goblet once her father turned around. Taking a quick sip, she put it back on the original spot. Her mother just smiled at her and shook her head slightly. Lucretzia grinned as she felt the flavour of the dry-tasting alcohol. _Mmm__…__ I feel a sense of purity… "Delicious, simply delicious," she blurted out. Her parents and sister immediately looked at the speechless child. "… This food is really delicious. But I think the beef could just add a few more herbs?" An uneasy look appeared on her face as she faked a big smile. _

"Lu," her sister her uttered, "that's what I thought too. I think it needs some spice for more flavour." 

But Lucretzia just stared at her sister. _Are you just helping me out or what? But then again you're pretty gullible to believe what I blurt out… _

"Lucretzia, you think it needs more herbs too?" Her father asked. "So do I. Except I like a little flavour of wine to it would make it taste more sensational, don't you think?" Was her father nuts? He never spoke like that; maybe things did change a bit after those six months. "Fetch your school report from my study after dinner."

"Yes Father." 

Deciding to take the 'quick' way, Lucretzia climbed onto the recently polished rail and slid down, zooming down with great speed. She neared the first steps and grabbed the round sphere on the end of railing with both hands, lifting herself up and hurling her body over to land perfectly on the wooden floor beside the steps. The large white envelope in her hands managed to stay in its perfect condition. Slowly walking into the lounge with the documents, she bowed her head with respect and handed the envelope to him and quickly exited the room without waiting for any comments from her father. The report had arrived a month ago already but it hadn't been touched since Andre, the butler placed it neatly on his desk. Personally, Lucretzia Noin was never the one to be bothered about reports, whether they were filled with complaints or compliments. So she continued to immerse herself into scoring three pointers in basketball again. 

Antonio flipped through the pages to the report, glancing at the scored and compliments on each and every subject his daughter had ever possibly learnt. But the grade numbers were all the exact same, ones… with that number being the highest available grade that existed in the school. Sure she was 'basically' a girl that most men would like to marry. Lucretzia was smart, sporty, beautiful (when groomed), kind and cheerful. But she lacked one thing to become perfect, she lacked the skills in being a chivalrous young girl. So he had ended up with a wild girl instead of a little lady. Softly he sighed. He felt that her scrappiness and untidy performance scored her way to another school, a school for people of nobility or those who are at least learning to become the 'perfect' role model.

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

"What?!" the sudden shriek called everyone awake. "But Father, I **don't want to go to a school like that ****just to learn my manners!" **

Antonio glanced up at his daughter, "Lucretzia Noin you will be attending that school whether you like it or not. Even if you try and get yourself expelled I will only send you to another school and with my reputation, you'll find yourself into that type of school either way. You'll be boarding and the school is in the Sank Kingdom so you'll board the jet next week Monday morning sharp. Do I make myself clear?" His facial expression turned into an icy glare.

"Yes Father," she said hesitantly and wheeled away, out of the study and back to her own bedroom, flopping onto her own bed. Manners… why did she have to leave her school just to learn manners? Especially all the way in the Sank Kingdom and board there? It was done, all set. She only had what? Six days until she'd leave for boarding. _Think on the bright side Noin, you'll probably find some new friends there. There's sure to be a few tom boys just like you… _

Suddenly she felt a deep growl coming from her stomach. _I'm so hungry… I need food… Once she heaved herself off her bed, she raced to the steps in her slippers and slid down the rail, doing a flip and landing perfectly on her feet. She hurried into the kitchen and skidded to a stop just before she crashed into her wet nurse from when she was young. _

"Miss Lucretzia," the maid glared at her firmly, "please do not slid around the house for it is rather dangerous. What would happen if you smashed into the wall and injured yourself?"

"But Eva, you know I wont," the young 'lady' complained, sending the middle-aged woman a cheeky look.

"I just don't want you to get into anymore trouble than you already have." The woman smiled at her and patted her gently on the head.

"Just let me fool around until the day I have to say good bye."

Eva looked at her worriedly before cracking into a smile. "Why do you say it so depressingly child? We shall see each other for a long time to come."

"I'm leaving for the Sank Kingdom next Monday. It will be a while before we see one another again." Lucretzia kept an emotionless sight on her face; one thing she had learnt to be good at during hard times when she wasn't in her bad tempers. 

"Lu… don't feel so bad. It'll only be for a term, until you finish school. I'm sure you'll meet new friends and study the one thing you've always wanted to learn about but never had the chance to."

Lucretzia looked down at the plump maid puzzled. "How did you know?"

"You grew up with me beside you, why wouldn't I know? I've known you since you were a few months old."

"But my mother doesn't know…"

"That's because she doesn't have to time to be beside you."

Looking up at the smaller woman, Lucretzia gave Eva a grateful smile. "I don't know what it'd be like without you around. Thanks Eva."

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

**_A/N__: I need a thing that's short for author's ending notes or something. As for my disclaimer… I'm fed up typing them so instead…_**

_Do not steal money or possessions from the poor because all the poor owns is the brain they have and the body they own; I consider myself the poor and if you want me to pay with my brain then slice me in half and suffer the consequences of living in jail FOREVER!!! MUWAHAHAHA… now you shall know how evil I am. I believe that not **ALL Chibi Tsukis are nice and I belong on the evil side.**_

_You might have to wait a while until the next chapter comes out. But I'll be working majorly on this one but I'll be sure to do the other story and my DBZ one. So make sure to check it… OR… I was thinking about a mailing list for updates which could be helpful to you people. Tell me what you think and how this story plot is going so far. I think I need to revise this chapter… *sigh* so much work… Ja ne_


	2. Cast Away

**Perfection**

Chibi Tsuki 

**_A/N:__ Sorry I took so long…I've been trying to get myself typing but I guess it didn't work. Thanks Reboo for the help! I appreciate it!  Expect humour…to come… _**

**Chapter 1 – Cast Away**

She averted her gaze back at the cities below her as the jet descended from the clouds. Lucretzia let out a small sigh. Besides her father and the two pilots on the jet, there was practically no one else to talk to. Boredom was another issue but she had survived those few hours just like the way she did when she had entered the mysterious area, beyond the earth's atmosphere. But that was ages ago, when she was only seven. 

"Lucretzia, we've arrived," Antonio muttered, gently nudging the girl out of her thoughts as he bent over her and kissed her gently on the forehead.

"Yes Father," she spoke softly, lifting herself out of the comfortable and wide chair. Slowly she walked behind him, her head tilted down slightly so that her bangs covered over her face and her arms flopped loosely beside her body. Her cobalt blue skirt being inclusive in her new school uniform was swaying slowly with the wind as she slowly stepped beside the proud man as they headed for the escalators, only several metres away. Silence led the way up until they entered the limousine waiting for them half an hour later. Antonio glanced at his beautiful daughter who just sat watching the scenery outside pass along. 

"Lucretzia, make me proud because I know you're going to become a fine young lady any time soon. I'm going to meet up with an old friend tonight and head back home tomorrow," he paused for a short moment. "Your mother and I will be heading to Africa for a few more conferences and several upcoming events so if you have any need to talk to me, just call…"

"Yes I know Father," she muttered, falling back into silence once she saw the disturbed look on his face. But he turned and looked to the right, noticing that they were approaching the new school's grounds, as massive and impressive as it was. "Is this my new school?" Lucretzia created an excited tone in her voice that easily fooled anyone and tried to cheer up her father. He nodded and waited for the vehicle to stop before stepping out of the car and into the sunlight that shone gently on his pale-skinned face. 

Quietly, they stepped into the huge main office with bright lights that crowded on the ceiling and a wide reception table that was carved out of the finest pine. Behind the desk was a young receptionist, typing away on the laptop until she noticed the pair approaching the table and stood up. "You must be Signor Noin," she spoke softly with a timid smile on her face, "please come this way, the principal is expecting you Signore and your daughter." She left her seat and led the two pass a couple of combined offices before coming upon a door that somehow gave out a sense of power in the room. But instead, they entered the room next to it which felt weaker in a way. The young woman knocked gently on the door. "Mr Macré, Signor Noin and his daughter have arrived." She pushed open the door to reveal what was behind; a middle-aged man with fine brown hair that resembled the colour of wood. _Hm__… He must be the principle the receptionist was talking about. He seems quite nervous for some reason. Lucretzia pondered and let out a silent sigh. _

"Signor Noin, welcome," Mr Macré greeted, quickly offering Antonio a chair, leaving the young fifteen year old to stay standing. "It's a great pleasure to be able to meet you. Perhaps you daughter would like to explore the school while we discuss."

Lucretzia nodded with a cheerful smile on her face uttering, "I'd love to take a look around my new school." _As if! In fact I'd loved to stay!  I wonder what you and my father are gonna to say about me… Most likely on how I'm the most disgraceful descendant of the family… Disgrace of the century! Slowly departing the room, she strode down the corridor with the receptionist following after her, trying to catch up with the quick-paced girl. _

"Miss Noin where would you like to take a look first?" she said hurriedly.

"Call me Lucretzia. Miss Noin's way too formal. Mmm… I'd like to take a look at the gym and sport courts first," Lucretzia replied as the woman eventually took lead. They walked back down the corridor until they reached the reception and exited through another large door, next to the entrance of the main building. They followed the down a small slope with maroon-coloured carpets patterned with a bold dark red frame and small stars within the frame of a light bluey colour. It seemed like a fair while before they arrived at the indoor courts with pine-coloured wooden floors that had been recently polished to give out a certain shine to the floor. Mentally, Lucretzia felt herself drooling over the basketball courts that looked basically brand new and the clear backboard with a small area coloured in black. On the other side of the room was the gymnastics equipment but it wasn't the 'gym' equipment she was searching for. 

Along the whole gym building where more basketball courts lay glistening of polish.

The receptionist continued walking along, leading Lucretzia towards the heated indoor swimming pool with a deep area of ten metres for diving. This school was simply divine. _I think I'm going to 'love' it here. She peeped through the glass window and saw the wondrous pool with its crystal clear water swaying like the sea water into the plastic draining that brought the water back into the pool once again. _

"Shall we move on Miss Lucretzia?" the young receptionist questioned, standing a few metres away from the teen. Lucretzia just nodded unconsciously, still mesmerised by the amazing sports grounds. Eventually she moved off the glass and glanced at either direction as they passed several classrooms. "We'll be arriving at the dormitories soon, do you want to take a look now or save it until later?"

"I'll chec… I mean take a look now and then we can probably head back the principal's office, right?"

"Um… Sure." The woman took lead again, leading her around the girl's dormitories, merely pointing out how many rooms there were since all of the doors were shut and it was quite rude to stick you head into someone's room without permission. They continued walking until they arrived upon another closed room but the woman stopped right there. "This will be your room during your stay here so please feel free to examine it." She opened the door gently as Lucretzia stepped into the room and studied the furniture arrangements, noticing the neatly laid out beds with the two wardrobes and desks opposite each other.. The carpet was tinted cream and the walls were a pale grey-white; being hardly able to distinguish from the simple colour white. Beside the two beds was a window with white frilly curtains and laces of co-ordinated colours. _I wonder who's going to be my room mate._

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

Sitting beside her father, the young raven-haired teen let a sigh of boredom escape her mouth. They had been eating lunch for approximately a **whole hour, nevertheless she had been sitting for an hour, waiting for her father to finish his conversation with the principal while they ate at the same time. Her recent attempts of notifying the two that she was still there seemed to have failed just like before. _Well I might as well go exploring while those two keep chatting. "Excuse me Mr Macré, would it be alright if I take a look around the school?" Lucretzia asked in her most polite voice._**

"Why don't you get settled into your dormitory first and get accustomed to your new surroundings?" the man's voice sounded hesitant on letting her venture around on her own, most likely in case she got lost in such a massive school. He didn't wait for a reply from Lucretzia and immediately called for someone to lead her to the dormitories. 

"It's alright Mr Macré. I know the way to the dormitories, the receptionist showed me," she bowed her head slightly in respect and walked off before he had anytime to stop her in her path. She didn't mean to be so rude but she just felt that she needed sometime to explore her surroundings without being whisked off after seconds of taking a glimpse of the area just like the way the woman did when she tried to imprint the basketball courts into her mind. _I wonder whether girls here play basketball too. Even though I like tennis and swimming, it just doesn't feel the same carefree way I fell playing basketball. She let out a sigh and followed down the corridor once again until she reached the basketball courts. From where she could see, she noticed a game being held on one of the farther courts. Making her way towards the area, she noticed some girls dressed in the school uniform, their black blazers ending slightly above their skirts. Even with their socks up a few inches higher than the rim of their black-laced shoes they still looked neat and well-groomed. Compared to them, she was rather scraggly and messy but she didn't mind and continued her way towards the gathering crowd. She gazed at the rivalling teams, noting their tactics and skills, even their strategies and movements. _

"Sorry," a voice yelled as she turned towards it, hearing the bounce of a basketball. Lucretzia caught the ball skilfully and smiled at the boy standing several metres away from her. "I haven't seen you around, are you new here?" She nodded with a pleasant grin. "Let me introduce myself, my name is Louie Eran. May I ask for yours?"

"Lu… My name's Lucretzia Noin," she replied, trying to remember her manners among the young and chivalrous students. Even though he was wearing a basketball singlet and pants and his dark blonde hair was rather messed up, he was polite and most likely well-educated like the other students. 

"It's a pleasure to meet you Miss Noin." Lucretzia gratefully shook her hand as he took his hand out.

"Same here." Just after she said it, she realised her mistake in words. "Please just call me Lucretzia."

He reached out for the ball as Lucretzia gave it back to him. "It's a coincidence that your name and my name are so much alike," his smiled, lifted up his tanned hand as a gesture of 'good bye'.

She walked over towards the exit of the basketball courts and sighed upon hearing the lunch bell ring. Slowly making her way to the dormitories, she passed a corridor she recognised it as being some of the many classrooms in the school. Silence was drifting inside the rooms as she strode down the corridor. There were hard working students inside each of the rooms, studying and writing endless essays. Once she arrived at her new dormitory, she noticed her luggage placed neatly outside the room on the carpeted floor. 

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

Settled and unpacked, the raven-haired girl flopped onto her bed, her eyes drifting at her unknown dorm mate's side of the room. When she had just briefly closed her eyes, she heard a light knock on the door. As she opened the door she saw her father looking down at her with gentle eyes. "Lucretzia dear, I'll be leaving now to visit the Peacecrafts. Stay out of trouble while you're here and learn your manners young lady. Understood?" His voice had turned slightly harsher towards the end of the second sentence. 

"Yes Father," she muttered softly as his eyes conveyed the feelings of gentleness once again. She reached up to him and gave him a loving hug, "Love you."

"I love you too. Farewell." He kissed her lightly on her forehead and smiled before making his way out of the building. Lucretzia smiled as his figure turned around the corner, a small feeling in her heart told her that she was going to miss him and her family dearly. Her eyes trailed on the floor underneath her until suddenly a shadow appeared. She looked up, noticing a young lady standing beside her. 

"Huh?" Instantly she sprung backwards, her back tight against the wall. "Who are you?"

"You mean who are **you?" She growled, looking strangely at her with an agitated look on her face. "What are you doing around ****my room?" **

"Sorry, I'm Lucretzia Noin and I'm new here. I'm sharing the dormitory with you."

"You've just come and rudely barged into my room and unloaded everything into it? And even now you don't ask me for my permission?" Her voice was inconsiderate and full-out cocky. 

"I'm sorry but I didn't mean that. Please forgive me but I was assigned to this room." 

The girl eyed her angrily and grunted as she turned and swivelled on her feet, leaving her to stand alone, staring at the back of her head.

"Perhaps, I won't fit in as well as I wanted to."

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

**_N/A:__ Finished this chapter at last. Sorry about the delay but the stupid assignments have been annoying me to no end. _**

_Disclaimer: Think about this lawyers, if there weren't for us authors, then it would be less a case for you to deal with, therefore LESS MONEY!!! So think again before you decide to wipe us out in one swipe!_

_Oh and you guys are probably wondering when Zechs is coming out right? Don't worry, just wait for another 3 chapters or so… *everyone starts booing and throwing food* HEY!!! Stop wasting food. I'm a food-a-holic you know. No truthfully, I'm not that mean to let my readers suffer for so long… expect him soon though!_

**_Next Chapter__: There's a school policy for the young ladies attending the school, NO BASKETBALL. Noin seeks new ways to get herself back on the court once again. _**


	3. New and Mysterious

**Perfection**

Chibi Tsuki

**_A/N:__ Thanks Reboo for your idea ^.^ Greatly appreciated! Too lazy to proofread, please don't mind the mistakes._**

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

_Chapter 2_

New and Mysterious

Waking up from sleep, she read the digits on her clock. "What?" she mumbled to herself, "only five thirty?" She groaned and plonked her head back onto the comfort of her pillow. It was too early to get dressed and out of bed, not to mention the energy just to sit up. As she turned her head around and started falling back to sleep again, she had a strange feeling that something was going to go wrong… 'Pang, pang, pang!' The noise volume was very loud. Lucretzia leapt up in fright, her eyes averted to the direction of her room mate's hand, a saucer lid in one hand and a bent metal spoon in the other. 

"Wake up you lazy bum! Get your part of the room done up so it's acceptable and you better get changed as well, I don't want my parents coming and seeing how messy this room is filled with your junk!" the girl yelled, her voice was full-out aggressive. She seemed like a furious tiger, revved up about nothing. The raven haired girl merely yawned and slunk into the corner of her bed, a hand scratching her head under the layers of messed up hair. Exhausted, she slumped back into her original position and continued to sleep again, herself in such a deep sleep that she couldn't hear the saucer lid beating anymore in the background. 

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

Stumbling down to the classroom messily with her hair slightly mussed, Lucretzia yawned, her strap bag hanging off the wrong shoulder. Fortunately for her, no one was around to see her in such a state. Everyone had already gone to class after leaving the breakfast hall and she was left to dwell behind and 'try' and find her classroom which apparently, she wasn't succeeding at. Perhaps the school was much larger than she thought but when she had first arrived, it didn't seem that big, considering that the receptionist had briefly shown her around the place. Maybe too briefly though. 

As she glanced through the corner of her eye, she noticed a gold plate stuck to the door slightly above the window with the letter and number, A9 on it. "That classroom is A9 and so A5 should be near by," she muttered to herself. "If I'm correct, four doors down." Slowly she took a few steps towards the closest door on her right, reading the room name. "A10? Guess I was wrong. Well it didn't hurt to guess." She proceeded down the corridor in the correct direction and followed until she stopped at the door with the name, A5. There was no response even though she had knocked at the door several times, perhaps no one was inside. Surprisingly, she felt a strange, confident feeling inside her and boldly entered the room. To her dismay, there was a group inside, chatting politely in a corner. Lucretzia had wanted to be alone for a while and that noisy room mate of hers didn't help much. Come to think of it, she didn't remember asking her for her name. The girls had stopped their conversation and instead, greeted her with courtesy before continuing with their chatter. Placing her bag on a table in the opposite corner of the room to the students, she huffed and sat herself down, her mind wandering off into a serene space somewhere. 

Just then, she heard a familiar voice. "Morning, Miss Lucretzia." She looked up and noticed the boy from yesterday. 

With a smile, she greeted with the same cheeriness, but inside she was fairly nerved. _What was his name again? Lou… Lou… Louie Eran. _

"It's a pleasant surprise to see you in my class. You must be talented," he commented, giving a subtle implication that he was bragging, but due to his friendliness, Lucretzia didn't notice it a single bit.

"Not really."

As he sat down a few seats away from her, their arithmetic teacher strode in, his hands piled with papers and textbooks of all sorts to do with maths. 

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

The lessons had gone past slowly and while Lucretzia appeared to be indulging in the notes and information but inside she was falling asleep. There was only, one more lesson until lunch. She was already dressed in her PE gear, a pleated white skirt with a red rim and a white collared T-shirt with the school's emblem on the front. Approaching the gym, a cheery smile appeared on her face, bringing out her sweeter side. Other students had already started gathering the sport equipment needed and Lucretzia was just waffling along. "Hey you." It was her bunk mate's voice, her cocky voice. Her voice would actually sound pretty if only that arrogant attitude of hers had wasn't there in the first place. "No one's going to be your slave and get your racket for you."

Looking up at her, the slightly short girl replied, "Excuse me for waiting." To what it seemed, it was going to be a free lesson where anyone could do anything they wanted. All the female students had chosen to play tennis and from what it seemed, that was the only option. But… why were the guys playing basketball? She tapped the girl closest to her on the arm and muttered, "Why is everyone playing tennis?"

The girl smiled politely and replied, "You must be new here. The school doesn't think it's acceptable for girls to play basketball. They think it's not lady like and so only the boys play basketball." The girl excused herself and rejoined her friends as they approached the court. 

_That sucks… She grumbled and reluctantly took a tennis racket from the rack and strode towards a trio who was in need of an extra player. __If…. If I play late, they won't realise but then again, what's the use? I need to play a proper game. For the rest of the lesson, she was thinking of a way to erase that problem but for quite a long time, it didn't seem to work._

She glanced around for inspirations and sighed when she found none. "Miss! Watch out!" a girl screamed at her, her voice showing expressions of fear. Lucretzia turned and saw as the tennis ball came flying her way. Her eyes widened but her instincts swiftly took over, instructing her body to move over. It was too late to swing. Luckily her lightning reflexes came in handy, catching the ball just as it came flying at her.

With a sigh of relief, she breathed out before resuming play. _That was close… Lifting a hand to straighten her visa, the idea formed in her mind. __That's it! _

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

Wolfing down her lunch, Lucretzia chewed on her roll hurriedly, swallowing large bits of bread at the same time. Surely she would've been scolded for such unruly manners. Young ladies and gentlemen were supposed to eat sitting down at a table instead of running around the school in a hurry. _I'll just sit and watch the basketball game instead since I don't my gear. Games usually started five minutes after the beginning of lunch and the greatest players within the school usually used this time to practise with a round against the others. She entered the gym and walked towards the training players, busying themselves with a quick warm-up. There were a few guys watching as well as the two girls standing quietly next to each other. "Miss Lucretzia." Turning her towards the sound of her name, she smiled at the approaching gentleman._

"Hello Louie and please do stop calling me with the title Miss. Just call me by my name," she smiled, greeting the enthusiastic teenager. "I guess you better prepare for the game."

"No it's alright, I'm playing the second half. I'm swapping with someone afterwards," he stated and straightened out his singlet. It was a different singlet to the one he'd worn the day before. 

The girl nodded in acknowledgement and stood silently next to him as the games started. Following her eyes down the court, Lucretzia noticed the player with the ball cornered in the spot. Only several metres away to his right was his team member, free for the pass. As much she wanted to shout out and inform him, she kept her mouth shut tight. But in this school, girls weren't particularly respected on the court or as trainers. That she had learnt at the beginning of the day. They would only cheer and applaud, nothing else. 

Suddenly the ball flew into the air. There was a collision as the ball started descending to the ground but out from no where, a tall blonde gentleman from the opposing team caught the ball and immediately rushed to the other side of the court with rapid speed. He jumped and scored for a slam dunk, the basketball swooping through the net, landing on the floor.

Louie glanced at Lucretzia, noticing her gaze on the player, his long blonde hair tied into a ponytail while his bangs crowded his face. "The gentleman you're looking at is Zechs Merquise," he informed.

"Huh?"

"His name is Zechs Merquise."

"Oh. How did you know I was looking at him?"

The boy grinned. "He's one of the 'hottest' guys around. That's what all the young ladies here say. Nearly every girl has asked him out on a date but none have succeeded."

"That doesn't mean I like him. I was amazed at his basketball skills." Lucretzia grunted and broke her eye connection with Louie.

With a doubtful look, the teenager sighed and turned his attention back onto the game. 

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

Everyday there were different players wanting to play, even those who were less skilled and experienced just to try and show off to the girls. Usually there were the everyday players and the tall blonde was one of them as well as Louie. But there was a mysterious player in tracksuit pants and a white T-shirt, warming up on one side of the court. He wasn't tall like the blonde nor was he that short. Wearing a cap help prevented others from seeing his features, the blue cap blending in with his dark coloured hair. He was most likely another teen trying his best to show off to the girls. When the whistle beeped for the jump ball Zechs Merquise was the one able to bat the ball to the side, letting it bounce into his fellow team mate's hands. Just as the teen with the ball started running down the court, the player with the cap came rushing past and stole the ball in his swift speed. He dodged several defenders as he dribbled and neared the hoop for a goal. The basketball fell throw and landed on the ground. 

Keeping his eye on the boy, Zechs narrowed his eyes. The ball was now in their possession and if they could control the ball and make it down the court it would be an easy goal, considering his was the second tallest person in the two teams. From his right, the ball was flying at him which he caught without any struggle. He paced himself as he dribbled down the second half of the court. Although he was nearly four metres away, it would be an easy shot. Jumping for the shot, he let the ball out of his hands and landed neatly on the ground. "Huh?" He turned his head just in time to see the capped boy intercept it and dart beside him. A grin appeared on his face. _Not bad… _

Zechs panted, his hands on his knees. He stood up and smiled in rejoice to another victory. Standing alone by himself was the boy, using a towel to wipe the sweat off his forehead under his cap. The tall gentleman walked over towards the loner and muttered, "Great game." He brought his hand out for a handshake. The boy grunted and took his hand, his cap and bangs shadowing his eyes and nose. "May I ask for your name?"

Being slightly hesitant, the boy took some time to reply, "Name's aren't important but if you must, my friends called me Noin."

"Noin? Is that the number for nine in German?"

"Yes. Excuse me Mr Merquise, I must leave now but perhaps we could have another game tomorrow."

 "Most certainly," the tall blonde responded as the figure in front of him lifted his head up slightly and turned, disappearing out of the gym.

Louie stepped up beside the gentleman and asked, "You know who he is?"

"Noin…"

"Noin?" Louie looked slightly startled but changed his expression quick enough to avoid Zechs from noticing. _Could it be…? _

Zechs sighed and left the gym for the showers. That was what he needed, a shower to wash off the sweaty feelings plastered all over his body. Perhaps he would meet up with the mysterious stranger. Nearing the male showers, he peeled off his slightly damp singlet and threw it on top of his sports bag, along with his shoes and socks. As he grabbed his towel, he strode into the shower cubicle and took off the rest of his clothing and left it on the hook on the door. The steaming hot water poured onto his skin as he felt the feeling of the water caressing his skin. _I didn't notice Noin come in here at all… Strange._

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

Lucretzia Noin darted down the corridor stealthily with her cap still on her head. Hopefully no one would see her approaching the ladies' showers in this disguise. She pushed open the door, her heart beating fast as she commenced to push open the next door to the main area of the showers. Her bag was placed nearly under the seats which she grabbed quickly as she darted into a shower cubicle just as some girls entered the room. A deep breath escaped her. Luckily the shower cubicle was large; at least large enough to fit a whole single bed so she would have space to put her bag on the small bench included without wetting it dreadfully. Louie was right. That Zechs Merquise was no amateur at basketball and she suspected that he was good at most other sports too. No wonder the girls fell head over heels for him.

The water was so welcoming that she didn't want to leave but she had to, there were classes soon and she would also need to get changed. Reluctantly, she turned off the taps, wiped herself dry and pulled on her clothes. With her feet still wet, she decided to step out and put on her shoes on the benches. As she brushed her damp hair, she heard the girls gossiping with one another. _So this is where the girls gossip. At first I thought that well-educated people weren't gossipers. _

"Zechs is so handsome, I would melt if he held me in his arms."

"I would too. He's so gorgeous, if only he pair some attention to us."

Lucretzia rolled her eyes and continued to stroke her brush through her wavy short hair. 

"You know that guy with the cap…?" Another girl muttered, seeming quiet hesitant to speak on. The raven-haired girl listened intently to their conversation. "He seems so cute. I think I like him." Lucretzia nearly choked on the air entering her body. _The girl likes me? Now that's way out of the picture. She burst out laughing, her laughing fit getting the better of her. Curiously, a girl poked her head around the corner and looked at her._

"Excuse me Miss but… are you alright?"

Lucretzia paused, causing some silence. "Sorry, I was just laughing to myself. I didn't mean to interrupt your conversation." Hurriedly, she grabbed her bag and left for the locker rooms, a rosy red tone on her cheeks. As she approached the empty locker room, she sighed and slung her bag over her shoulder, carrying it by the strap. Who would've thought that that Zechs Merquise was this good? He wasn't especially big or anything but well built and tall. Placing her bag on top of her locker, she opened the locker and leaned her head against the door, the solid wood against her forehead. Suddenly, she heard footsteps and slowly lifted up her head. Walking towards her was Louie, his bag in one hand.

"Hey Lu," he muttered, rather casually.

"Hey Lou… ie. How did your basketball game go?" she asked cheerfully.

"Another victory for us. Where were you at lunch? I thought that you were coming to watch." Gently, he placed his bag above his locker, being opposite to Lucretzia's. He collected his books from his locker and piled them onto his arm. 

"Sorry about that, I went off to the library for a book and tomorrow I think I'm going to start the assignment so I don't think I'd be able to watch your game tomorrow or Friday but I promise I'll be there next Monday."

"Sure thing." Noticing the young gentleman picking up his books, Lucretzia followed suit and grabbed her Geography books. "What do you have now?"

"Geography, you?"

"Same, with Mr Lenker right?"

Lucretzia nodded and closed her locker door. "It seems as if we're in many subjects together." She gave him a gleeful smiled and walked to the exit. As she turned around, she noticed his startled face. "Come on Louie, we're going to be late if you don't make a move."

Something about this girl reminded him of his little sister, the same cheerfulness and innocence. Surely she wasn't the basketball player and even if she was, he would be on her side. "Coming," he responded, snapping out of his trance. 

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

**_A/N: __There, that's another chapter done! I'm getting over the writer's block_****S**** yay!**** Hope you like this chapter, it's nearly 3000 words long and Zechs is in it… ^^. (I'm pretty proud coz I can NEVER write long chapters, I know it's irritating but I run out of things to type.) And of course, Louie ****doesn't like Noin the way most would suspect. It's 'brotherly' love ok? Hehehe, loving your reviews! *hint hint, nudge nudge***

_Chibi Tsuki ^.^_

_Gundam__ Wing is like a star, it sits up high and I'm down low. As hard as I'll try, I'll never reach it and it'll never be mine… Get it? You should…_


	4. Braids and Ponytails

**Perfection**

Chibi Tsuki

**_A/N:__ The characters seem slightly OOC. Sorry! But I don't exactly know how I could put Zechs with this type of personality when it's not exactly him. *lost* Ok, don't mind what I typed... Just read! I'm also trying to put most of the characters into the story with a little altering on their ages and relationships (as in family linkages) with each other so that it will be 'stranger'. Hehehe… Just to tell you, I consider myself abnormal. _**

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

Chapter 3

Braids and Ponytails

This was his fifth game against Noin, the mysterious basketball player who nobody knew who he was. Zechs stroked his fingers through his silky hair, ridding it of the tangling knots in his ponytail. He breathed deeply, inhaling as much air as his lungs would let him. Resting for a second, he was already sprinting down the court, his hair flying behind him. The raven-haired player had the ball in his position, bouncing it steady in front of him as he dodged between the people. He wasn't a ball hog but usually it was the others who couldn't catch up to him fast enough before he scored. Suddenly Zechs was running next to Noin, his eyes on the basketball before they were brought up to see Noin's piercing blue eyes. They were blue, he knew it. A deep mysterious blue that only conveyed determination but briskly something in his eyes made him stop. It looked as if they were smiling at him; not evilly but instead kindly. That emotion only made him feel determined to make friends with his opponent. 

Cheers and applauds corrupted the suspense and silence that hung in the courts before as Noin scored another goal. From under his cap, Louie could see him smile. This time he was glad that Noin was on his team instead of being opposing team members. He ran to the shorter player and the slap of a high-5 echoed softly.

There was five more minutes left until the match finished and this time the score was leaning towards Noin's side. Zechs called for the ball, his voice above everyone else's. Soon the ball landed in his hand and he dribbled towards the end of the court. As expected, the raven-haired player was right next to him, eyeing on the ball. Cunningly, he stopped only a foot away from the key and spun around Noin expertly, confusing her as he successfully went around her, now being able to freely shoot a goal. Dribbling diagonally to the ring, he performed a lay-up and scored simply with an easily flicker of his hand. Noin smiled at him as she collected the ball and searched for someone to pass to. Louie was free, standing at the edge of the key, dodging and breaking towards the ball and Noin used this chance the pass him the ball, purposely doing a bounce pass so Zechs would have to bend low to be able to intercept it.

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

"Excuse me Noin, you want to have lunch break together or something?" Zechs suggested, running up beside the figure with the blue cap, slightly brushing shoulders. Noin just shrugged and continued walking towards the change rooms, realising that Zechs was still tagging along beside her. 

"I guess so. Why not?" Noin replied, a subtle tone of hesitance in her voice. "Er… I'm going to change a while before class so we have fifteen minutes I suppose." Her voice had been modified so that it was deeper although it still didn't work out properly. The tall blonde nodded and strode quietly with her.

Only little of the boarding food remained in the warming machine, where the food was kept until the end of lunch and anyone was allowed the rest. Seats were neatly tucked under the tables until the pair seated down with a tray in their hands. They ate silently, not talking to one another because it was rude to disturb someone from eating in peace and Noin was just afraid to blow her cover. Zechs had already eaten his sandwich and was now finishing his apple which was quite large. He opened his mouth and was truthfully, startled to see Noin starting her third sandwich with her large glass of orange juice in the other hand. 

"Wow, you ate a lot," Zechs remarked when Noin had finally finished satisfying her own stomach. 

"Yeah, strange isn't it? Before I didn't eat this much until I came to boarding that its," she answered, her blue eyes sparkling under her shadowing cap. She could see Zechs sudden tense feeling and was about to ask him what was wrong when he interrupted her silence with a question.

"I don't mean to be rude but do you usually play basketball with your cap? It seems as if you like it a lot." He was rather nerved by his question and his curiosity possibly got the better of him.

"No it's alright. I guess it's just that I don't like people seeing my face and start jeering at me for who I am."

Zechs boldly asked again, "As in your ethnicity?"

"Sort of," she responded, picking herself off the seat and approaching the front of the dining hall with her tray.

Quickly running up behind her, Zechs placed a hand on her shoulder and she immediately flinched. "Did I say the wrong thing? I apologise deeply."

"No it's not that," Noin smiled weakly, clutching her tray firmly. _Phew that was so close. She fumbled mentally for an excuse. "I must be getting to class soon. I'll see you around Zechs." The disguised girl placed her tray on the bench and left immediately, knowing that she left a very baffled Zechs Merquise behind. __Remember never to let that Zechs frighten you again like that. She spoke to herself inwardly and zipped into the change rooms before anyone could see her. _

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

"Hey Noin!" 

Lucretzia Noin froze and turned around to lock eyes with a certain blue-eyed teenager. Her hold on her books had loosened as she gave the teen a grim look, uttering, "What are you doing here?"

The bouncy character in front of her merely grinned and shrugged, "My pop changed me to this school because I wasn't a _gentleman."_

Chuckling the girl replied, "I wouldn't be complaining since you _are only my cousin, Maxwell and it seems that both our parents don't approve of our __unique characteristics." Duo Maxwell, the fourteen year old with the long brown braided hair and the bubbling blue eyes agreed with a cheery laughter. He was half Italian but inherited most of his feature and accent from his American father who too, had the same coloured hair except the main difference was that it was short. But Duo's darkish-blue coloured eyes came from his mother and she was like Lucretzia's mother with the dark platinum black hair. In fact they were sisters and so therefore the pair, Duo and Lucretzia were close cousins. "Hey Duo. Next time call me Lu, ok?"_

"Um… yeah sure, whatever." He paused for a second and then spoke again, "But I've called you Noin for my whole entire life since I was able to speak."

"Well here you _must call me Lu or Lucretzia. If not my basketball playing days are over."_

"Why?"

"Girls aren't allowed to play basketball here. It's a rule."

"Why?"

"I don't know."

"Why?"

Irritated, Noin grinded her teeth, "Shut up Duo."  
"Why?" 

Soon Lucretzia gave up and turned on her heels, waving a simple gesture of good bye to her cousin before disappearing down the corridor.

He sniggered and commented to himself, "She gets pissed _every time. Great, where do I go now?" Mentally hitting himself he regretted about forgetting to ask Lucretzia where his classroom was._

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

Time had gone quickly in the last period and everyone was currently talking about a recent competition only posted up onto the message board that day. Re-entering the classroom, the teacher's appearance called for silence and every student immediately quietened down. "Right my dear students, there's going to be an assembly meeting right now so you may pack your belongings and gather at the assembly hall," the grey-haired teacher announced while adjusting his glasses. He disappeared again, his footsteps leading out of the room. Once he had left, the students chattered softly to each other, their voices barely rising over a whisper. Lucretzia walked up to Louie and tapped him lightly on the shoulder. "So what's the… I mean, can you tell me what the competition is about?"

"Don't need to be so formal around me Lu," the broad-shouldered gentleman chuckled. 

"Well still, can't I practise?"

He chuckled again and received a pair of glaring eyes staring straight at him. "The competition's for anyone who wants to join. All you need is a partner to enter and there are many rounds to it, including quizzes on our economy, instrumental music and possibly sport. There's also a creativity activity in that too."

Lu sighed and let her shoulders slump. "I'm good at nothing at all, all except for sport." She sighed again and trudged slowly out of the classroom, following the last student into the corridor.

"Wait Lu." The girl stopped and glanced at him. "What sports are you good at? Perhaps you and I can join as a team."

"Mmm… basketball, tennis, swimming, fencing, rock climbing, running, gym but I'm still on level five but I don't intend to continue. There are others but there are too many to name."

The friendly expression on Louie's face had changed to a cheeky grin. "So you _are that basketball player. I knew it __all the time."_

Swiftly Lucretzia clamped a hand over his mouth. "Don't tell anyone!"

"I won't Lu, you're like a little sister to me and you're short enough to be one too," he added. She scowled and lightly punched him in the ribs before exiting through the doorway while Louie tagged behind.

Flocks of students gathered at the assembly hall, the low shuffling sound disturbing the silenced air. No one spoke once they sat down, acting like the prim and proper ladies and gentlemen they were taught to be. Everything felt so long, the unexpected assembly announcements, taking a seat, the principal's 'speeches' and basically everything else. The only thing that caught Lucretzia's attention was when he mentioned the competition and upcoming drama play, which sounded quite interesting if she was the one watching everyone nervously fumble over their words. Louie nudged the girl on the arm when she started dozing off into her own fantasy world, several times.

"That was _so boring!" Noin complained when they stepped out of the assembly hall, behind the other students. Her friend beside her could only shake his head. "But I think I might enter that competition."_

The taller teenager shrugged but kept his friendly smile. "I'm going to go off with my friends. I'll see you around." 

"Wait, what do we do now since the assembly's finished?" she implored, causing him to stop.

"Lessons for the day are over unless you have extra curricular activities."

"Don't have any today."

"Well then, you can go and practise your manners." Surprisingly Noin didn't scowl at him or seem angry at him in any way. "Aren't you a little bit angry?"

Lucretzia grinned unexpectedly instead and replied in a cheery voice, "Hey, I'm not _that snobbish or hot tempered. Well then, see ya." She held her books firmly in her hands and walked away with a delighted thought in her mind. For a second, her closed eyes weren't able to see the path she was walking and crashed into something. Or to be exact, someone. Immediately, she sprung backwards and apologised for not watching the road._

"It's alright Miss. Just remember to watch where you're…" the person's voice trailed off. "Have we met before? You seem so familiar?"

_Huh? That voice… It's… "Zechs Merquise?" she uttered, realising the identity of the obstacle in her path. "Sorry for my rudeness but your name just came out of my mouth."_

"It's alright," he smiled sweetly, studying her face before noticing the intense mystery she held in her eyes.

_Now get up and leave before he remembers who you are! "Excuse me Mr Merquise," Lu muttered politely and turned around to leave._

"Miss, can I have your name?" the striking young blonde asked, hoping for a response.

"Lucretzia." The girl had already rushed off before he could ask her any further.

_Lucretzia, what a beautiful name.__ He pondered silently to himself whilst a goofy grin boarded his face._

"That was a close call," Lucretzia mumbled to herself as she leaned against the tree, her books clutched tightly with her right hand, hanging around her thigh.

"What was a close call?" The girl jerked her head backwards and banged into the wall at the sound of someone's voice. "Too happy to see me already?"

Noin groaned and rubbed her head gently where she felt a small bruise beginning to swell. "Thanks a lot Duo. I just needed you to ruin my day didn't I?"

"C'mon Noin," he whined but instantly stopped when he saw the stern look directed towards him. "Sorry Lu… It's hard to remember to call you Lu though…"

"Tough." Beginning to leave, Noin sighed as her cousin instantly continued to follow her. "Why don't you go join your friends? I'm sure you've made quite a few already in your year."

"Nah… they're too polite, formal and anything but like me!" 

Patting him on the back gently, Noin smiled, "I'm sure you'll find friends. It's not like you to give up." She grinned at him and headed off, leaving him filled with encouragement as he sped off somewhere… 

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

**_A/N:__ So what do you think guys? I'm having this problem deciding whether to get him to like her or not (perhaps vice versa). So how about you tell me? Hope no one's going to start flaming me about Duo not fitting the role as Noin's cousin. I decided that I won't put Hilde because she's Noin's sister in the other one. Anyway, the other characters will be coming in soon. Please review people! I need encouragement and inspiration ^.^ And now that I've probably failed in my Jap exam (it was today… *gasp*) I don't feel up to anything unless someone wants to give me a _****giant chocolate banana split with blueberries! Love them desserts!**


	5. Letter from Home

**Perfection**

Chibi Tsuki

**_A/N:__ I'm sooo sorry about the late update but I was sick for a while and the teachers still piled us up with assignments during the last week of term. Well thanks to those who reviewed! I enjoyed reading them as any author would. I mean, reviews are good, very very good and helpful to stimulate the mind._**

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Chapter 4

Letter from Home

Smirking, Duo glanced around for the sight of his cousin on the basketball court. She had mentioned to him earlier that she would be playing in a 'disguise'. The young braided boy, a fan of most sports like his enthusiastic cousin who just 'happened' to be a girl. He padded towards the court, wearing a singlet and some shorts all in a slightly battered condition. Several girls were crowding around the tall blonde who at first seemed to look like a girl from behind. He shrugged and looked around again, noticing a raven-haired stranger who wore a cap indoors while completing some stretches. More than several thoughts popped into his head. _I wonder who the loser is, wearing his cap indoors. I'm sure he'll like an introduction. Grinning, he made his way over to the loner, his braid following smoothly behind him._

Noin let her eyes slide to the side when she heard light footsteps coming towards their way but she continued to hold her stretched out arm. She could hear the footsteps before slightly louder, this seemed fairly familiar. Just as the moment came, she swivelled around and grabbed at the swinging braid expertly and held it straight until she heard a yelp and released the hair. "Ow… That hurts what did you do that for?" he whined as he nursed his head and slowly looked up.

"Do what Duo?" Noin sniggered softly, her blue eyes shining with innocence when she looked at her cousin.

"Lu…" suddenly the boy felt someone pinch his arm. He yelped and glared at his cousin who was sending him stern looks. 

"Noin," Louie uttered as he approached the pair, "you ready?" He glanced down at Duo was still a half a head shorter than Noin. "Who's this little guy?"

"That's my cousin Duo Maxwell. He's only a year younger than us," Noin replied. "Duo, this is my friend Louie Eran."

Duo stood dumbfounded for a second before reaching forward to shake the older boy's hand, supplementing the handshake with some polite words. Grinning at him, Louie ushered the pair towards the court as the crowd noticed the face of a new comer. The braided boy was already on the court, shoving a player off Louie's team so that he could play the first five minutes. This time Noin was paired with Louie and Duo whereas the tall blonde whom Duo was told to be aware of was on the other team. Being the tallest of his team, Louie stood in front of Zechs in position as the referee readied himself with the ball in one hand. Both players leapt for the ball as it left the referee's hand and to Noin's prediction, Zechs was able to hit it. She gestured towards Duo with the slight tilt of her head and the younger player sped off towards the ball, his braid flying behind him. Countering the ball, Duo bounced it low on the ground at a steady rhythm while Noin charged to the other side of the court. He made a mad dash up the court, dashing towards Noin in great speed. On either side of him were two opposing players, trying to steal the basketball off him with their hands as if swatting at flies. But the boy only continued to move forward towards the key. Noin was standing in a suitable position for a shot, if only he could get through the two. 

"Here kid!" Louie shouted from behind the braided youth as Duo jerked his head backwards. That guy was free. He tossed the basketball backwards before he ended outside the court. 

Suddenly a blur whipped up in front of Louie, intercepting the throw. Zechs had caught it and was racing back down the other side of the court with it in his possession. The other two players in Louie's team were already after the tall blonde but they couldn't match his big strides. Cheers followed him down the court. Within five minutes into the game, the score was three nil, leaning Zechs' way. 

"That guy sure is fast," Duo muttered as he passed Noin who merely nodded. Raising his hand for a sub, Louie gestured towards the other five players who were waiting for their play. The match commenced again once the players were on the court.

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

"My first match here and we lost," Duo complained, slumping into his chair during the evening meal. "If they had let me play the last five minutes, I would've evened up the score and we probably would've won." Although the constant protest was still going on, Duo's appetite was just as large as it usually was. His cousin sat beside him shaking her head at his ridiculous manners which she had learnt… a bit of since she arrived at the school. "You've changed a lot since you came to this school, No-" Duo yelped at the pinch on his arm, disturbing the dining hall of its quiet chatter. "Sorry everyone." The boy eyed his cousin and muttered. "Actually you haven't changed that much after all." 

Lucretzia gave him a cheeky grin and left the table.

His gaze followed her out of the dining hall. Something about this girl told him that she was… _unique. Zechs smiled dreamily. "Zechs," the gentleman seated beside him uttered. "Zechs? Hello? Anyone in there?" _

Someone chuckled and replied the teenager, "Zechs' just admiring."

"Admiring what Treize?"

Speaking softly, the third person said, "Admiring a girl."

"Which one? I feel sorry for her, I wonder how many jealous admirers are going to be after her."

The one called Treize chuckled again. "I wonder too."

Walking into her room whilst towelling her hair, Lucretzia yawned. The showers were two doors down from her shared dormitory which made it convenient for her to be one of the first to grab a shower. There were about six showers in total shared among twenty-four girls in that particular bathroom but the dormitories were divided into particular sections so that each twenty-four students shared one bathroom. Altogether it was easier to manage shower times. The boys' dormitories had the same system but were totally separate from the girls'.

"Stop flicking that water onto me, it's getting me all wet!"

Lucretzia halted on the spot and glanced down at her room mate who was wiping her face delicately with a tissue. The one mean girl who was in her grade she had met. Only within half a day, Lu had remembered her name: Calli Broadchers. "Sorry ma'am," Lucretzia muttered casually and sat down on her bed, brushing water out of her short hair with a brush. After arriving at the boarding school for over three weeks, Lucretzia Noin had adopted the habit to brush her hair each day so that at least she would look 'decent' in her everyday education classes and not receive warnings seven times a day for having scruffy hair. Calli gave her a glare and resumed reading her romance novel, over-reacting at all the so called scary parts and mushy stuff. 

As she placed her brush and towel on her desk, Lucretzia noticed a sealed envelope lying next to her lamp. She slowly reached for it, touching the paper softly. There was a distinct scent of lavender on it. Picking it up and opening it, she dipped her hand inside and pulled out a letter that had an even stronger smell of the same scent on it. A smiled boarded Lucretzia's face. The smell was comforting and familiar; her sister always preferred the smell of lavender and often sprayed lavender perfume on herself. Written neatly on the fancy flowery paper were words of comfort.

_Dear Lucretzia,_

_It's been a while since I've spoken or talked to you. I hope you're having fun at boarding school. Do you remember that French gentleman Father requested me to meet? Well I'm sure you'll be happy to know that engagement is off and Father has found a charming gentleman from __England__ instead by the name of Matthew Parkes. He doesn't have a strong accent though, luckily. Father and Matthew's father are still deciding on a wedding date though. _

_Your principal has been sending Father letters nearly daily about your progress. Although he always says how bad you are, I think that he's secretly pleased with you.  _

Lucretzia smiled as she continued to read the long letter. It had been quite a while since she had really spoken with her sister who had become her closest relative in the family. When at last she had finished the letter, it was already close towards lights out and her fussy room mate had already gone to bed, leaving Lucretzia's lamp on. For once she seemed quite… nice since she didn't yell at Noin for keeping the lamp on. 

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

Today was Saturday, her day, a day alone for her to spend, to waste. Lucretzia grinned, wearing some baggy cargo pants, a loose cotton T-shirt, covered by a spray jacket. Her black cap sat neatly on her head, her bangs hanging under, shielding her face slightly. With permission, the students were allowed to roam town, as long as they stayed in the shopping town and assembled in the town square before four in the afternoon. She made her way alone down through the shops, glancing sideways at the sports bags that were displayed neatly in the display window. Stopping, she turned around, looking at them nonchalantly with both hands in her cargo pockets.

"Hello, sir?" Noin looked around towards the voice, realising that the voice was addressing her. She noticed a short girl staring at her. "You're from Acrosha Private College right?"

The raven-haired youth glanced behind her, noticing two other females accompanying her. She nodded silently, her cap tipping forward slightly.

"May I be so rude as to ask whether you're the gentleman who plays basketball every lunch?" The girl was wearing a mini skirt, a pink jacket and a white blouse and smiling up at her almost too friendlily. Once again Noin was dumbstruck. Truthfully she wasn't the 'gentleman' and so she had no idea how she was going to answer. 

"Sorry ladies," an arm flopped over Noin's shoulder almost too expectedly, "but Noin and I have some business to take care of. See ya around ladies." Noin was being steered away by the one and only Duo.

"Thanks Duo, I never knew that you're actually helpful until now," Noin commented casually as they left the girl's sight.

"Well thanks for recognising my talent now. Well while we're out here, how about a hot chocolate or something?" Duo suggested as they continued walking aimlessly inside the shopping mall. Without waiting for a reply, Duo dragged his cousin along towards one of the most expensive cafeterias around. 

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

Listening intently in the teacher's introduction to astronomy, Lucretzia wrote down notes ever so neatly in her exercise book, copying down the important ones that she would possibly forget. The subject had grabbed her interest ever since she was just a little girl, no older than seven. Her passion in space had grown larger when she found a piece of meteorite during her visit to the Arabian deserts. From then on, she was so fascinated that she started questioning her parents about space and what lay beyond the stars but unfortunately, she wasn't able to find anymore knowledge about her beloved universe.

While everyone was packing up to leave the science laboratory, Lucretzia was discussing astronomy with her teacher, hugging her books close to her body as she asked questions. A pair of eyes stared at her from outside the lab, admiring her, enjoying the moment. The teacher shrugged at her question and suggested for her to look up some books in the library. Lucretzia smiled and excused herself, passing a familiar blonde on her way out. _Why is that Zechs Merquise everywhere? She sighed and made her way to her next classroom. _

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**_A/N: __I know, it's a short chapter. But I promise a bigger one next time and hopefully it'll come out sooner. Hehehe, I just realised that I've forgotten quite a few disclaimers but I'm sure you all know that I don't belong GW or any of its characters, unfortunately._**


	6. Taking Another Step in Love

**Perfection**

Chibi Tsuki

**_A/N: __Sorry about the bad spelling people! I didn't have time to revise it and I didn't have a clue about what to write. Hope you like it!_**

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Chapter 5

Taking Another Step in Love

Fingers hit the keys swiftly and accurately and letters automatically appeared on the monitor screen. Crumbs spilled onto the keyboard, falling in between each individual key. From the laptop speakers, music could be heard softly, the gentle rhyme being hummed in tune. The door creaked open but the student working on the computer ignored the sound and continued typing at full speed, never stopping unless it was to take a sip of water or bite into the biscuit held firmly in the mouth. "Hey cous, I'm dropping in for a visit. I hope you don't mind," the voice of the speaker was rather quiet and sounded unenthusiastic. Waving a hand, Lucretzia Noin tried to shoo the visitor away as she determinedly tried to finish an assignment due the next day. When the boy didn't move, the raven-haired girl turned around and looked at him strangely. 

"You're not supposed to be here Duo, you know better. Go back to your dorm. What if someone sees you here?" she scolded him before turning back to her work but the boy made no move or hint that he was going to leave. Something told Lu that Duo wasn't himself right now. She gave in and turned to the fourteen year old and sighed. "What's wrong Duo?" There was a slightly sad look in his face.

"I'll be leaving tomorrow for the holidays, I won't be back for quite a while. Do you think you could pass a letter to a girl in my year for me?" He blushed crimson when he mentioned the girl. 

"Oh, is that what this is about? And I thought that you were sad to leave me behind in this place," she sighed, lifting her eyebrows. "So who's this girl of yours?" She chuckled softly and focused her attention on her cousin for a little while.

"Hilde Schbeiker," he muttered.

"Who is it? I can't hear you Duo."

This time he spoke louder, knowing that his cousin was teasing him. "Hilde Schbeiker and if I find out that you haven't given her the note, I'll tell everyone that you're the-"

"Ok! Ok!" Lucretzia smiled. She shook her head slowly. "I'll pass her the letter for you, just remember to bring some goodies back when I see you again after the next term starts. Lucky little rascal, gets an entire month of holidays." She reached forward and took the note off the boy's hands, tucking it gently under her pencil case. "Leave it to me." When she turned around again, Duo had already left the room without a good bye to his dear cousin.

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

Heading down the dormitory, Lucretzia found the Year 8 dormitories and knocked on the first door she passed. Surely the juniors wouldn't be asleep by now, it was still quite early. The door opened to reveal a blonde haired girl with long hair that reached slightly below her hips, "Hello Miss, can I help you?" she spoke sharply, her forked eyebrows reminding Lucretzia of someone she had often seen at the dining hall with a certain popular gentleman. 

"Can you please direct me to Hilde Schbeiker's dormitory?" she asked, trying to stay as polite as possible.

"Hilde's room is four rooms to the left, you won't miss it because one of the golden plated numbers is missing. By the way, her room number is E14 but it's missing the number 4," the girl explained, smiling cheerily at her in a slightly sly manner.

"Thank you," she responded, leaving the girl immediately. _That girl's eyebrows sure are freaky. She searched for the room with the missing number plate. When she found it, she noticed several scratches near the door handle and a chipped door frame. __Yikes, I wonder what happened to it… She shook her head and knocked at the door gently. The door opened and a honey blonde haired girl looked up at Lucretzia, big blue eyes staring into hers. _

"How can I help you?" 

Lucretzia looked at the girl, subtly raising an eyebrow. Was this the girl that Duo liked? Sure she was quite pretty and she seemed to be chivalrous but this girl and Duo? They seemed a rather odd couple. "Does Hilde Schbeiker sleep in this dorm?"

"Yes, you've come to the right place. Please wait a moment while I fetch her," the girl smiled, leaving Lucretzia to ponder what this girl Hilde looked like. Soon, a dark haired figure appeared at the door looking at her visitor politely.

"I'm Hilde, how can I help you?" Lucretzia noted the girl's sweet, polite voice and stored it into her mental list of Duo's lover's qualities.

"I was asked to give this to you," the older girl replied, holding up an envelope that Lucretzia had decided to put in so that it seemed more formal. She handed it to the girl. 

"Thank you," the girl took the envelope and smiled, actually Lucretzia noticed that she was actually blushing.

"I'll be leaving now, bye," Lucretzia trudged off, a smirk on her face. Hilde didn't seem that bad, instead she knew why Duo liked this girl.

Suddenly she darted back towards her room, realising that she only had half an hour until her roommate would force her to turn off the light; she had half an hour left to finish her assignment.

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

The competition was due to start soon and Lucretzia concluded with the decision to stay as a spectator. It was an interesting day and all lessons from break afterwards were cancelled for the competition. They had already finished the question part of the competition and two teams were tying first place so far; Zechs Merquise's team and Treize Kushrenada's team. Now it was half-way through the tennis tournament and all the girls were admiring both male players, jealousy pounding in their hearts as the two girls in the teams played. Lucretzia recognised both of the girls; they were the two she had met while finding Hilde. The one on Treize's team was the blonde with the forked eyebrows and the other girl with Zechs was Hilde's roommate. When she glanced at both teams, she noticed the resemblance in the team members. _Perhaps they're related. Louie came searching for Lucretzia, after loosing to the other teams in a relay race. Track work wasn't really his thing and he had admitted it several times. _

When she focussed her attention back on the tennis competition, they had declared a draw and both teams were to advance into the next round since the winner couldn't be decided. The competition was to end with a final round of acting. Both teams were to act out a dramatic scene of prosing and the one that seemed most realistic would win the entire competition. After several minutes of discussion, the first team started; Treize and the blonde. The blonde was seated in a chair, pretending to stare out of the window. This was going to be funny.

"Miss Lucretzia Noin."

Lucretzia was enjoying herself too much to hear the speaker. The speaker repeated her name again, this time slightly louder, over the music and conversing audience. She turned her head towards the speaker this time and said, "Yes?" Looking at the speaker, Lucretzia grinned brightly. "Eva, it's been a long while. Why are you here?" Her plump maid curtseyed.

"I'm glad you still remember me Miss Lucretzia, I see that you're enjoying yourself quite a bit here." Her melodic voice was as sweet as always, her rosy cheeks blushing slightly pink like always.

"Yes, although I still haven't really adapted to this place. I have a lot to tell you though," she uttered as her maid led her away from the audience.

"Well there's no time here to tell me about it. We're leaving today, and you'll be back in two days time which will be Thursday. We've already spoken to the principal and so we'll be leaving at once since I've gathered most of your belongings that you'll need during the short period away," she explained, grabbing the student by her hand whilst she sped up. 

"But Eva, can I finish watching this performance? I really want to know what's going to happen." Being dragged by her maid around the school wasn't such a good sight but luckily all the students were enjoying themselves at the competition and so no one saw. 

"No Lucretzia, this is important. Our flight is in half an hour and we must hurry otherwise we'll miss it. Now be a good girl and no more talking until we get there." Clueless, the young girl followed her maid, still in the state of confusion. 

"You mean Aleena's getting married to her new prince charming! That's wonderful!" she squealed with delight, certainly happy with the ending results. The engine of the private jet couldn't compare with Lucretzia's voice. "I'm so happy for her." Her heart thumped excitedly, wondering what this lucky gentleman looked like and how he was dressed and such. She had also been thinking of what her sister was going to wear; something fancy or something simple? Rubbing her hands in a delighted way, she giggled whilst her maid shook her head with a sigh. This was going to be such a noisy ride for the poor middle-aged maid. 

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

_Where did Lu go? Louie had last seen Lucretzia being dragged away by some lady from out of nowhere and it was already near the end of dinner and still she couldn't be found. He had asked many people for the whereabouts of Lucretzia and she didn't even say where she'd gone to. This disturbed him the most but Louie was thinking positively, knowing that a girl like Lucretzia would be safe; she was strong in her own ways and had a quick-thinking mind. Perhaps she would ring him tonight and report of her whereabouts. He wasn't getting too worried, not yet anyway. _

On the other hand, a certain young gentleman who had been expecting to see Lucretzia after his victory in the performance was waiting rather nervously for the girl to step into the dining hall. The dining hall would be closing soon but she still hadn't appeared. Usually she would sit down with either Louie or the braided youth who hung around her during dinner since both were still new to the school. Although he had noticed her missing since the end of the competition, he still waited patiently for his 'fair maiden' to appear. Surely she hadn't left the school in such short notice. But who was he to her? He was only another gentleman in the school, like the many others except that the girls hung around him much more than around others.

"Let's go and study a bit in the library Zechs, the common maths test will be held quite soon and I've heard from the teachers that it'll be quite difficult if we don't study," Treize suggested, glancing at the lover boy beside him. "Perhaps your lover will be studying in the library too." He hinted, thinking of a way to get Zechs out of the dining hall before it bore him to death. Zechs grunted and nodded, dumping the remainder of his rubbish into the bin as he stood up from the chair. _I wonder what she likes; flowers, poetry or perhaps chocolates and romantic stories. Treize led the way, several others following after him while the pondering platinum blonde gentleman trailed slowly behind, girls admiring him. Usually he would take notice but this time he was too absorbed in his thoughts to notice anything at all; especially when his friends had disappeared in the corridor, leaving him behind. _

"Hurry up Mr Merquise, you don't want your crowd waiting on you," Otto, one of their companions teased, waking Zechs from his deep thinking. "At last, we've revived the ice block." 

The trailing teenager eyed Otto in an irritated fashion but kept his cool as he hurried up to them. "Actually, I'm positive Otto's going for the ladies."

Moving the cursor towards the 'inbox' link, Louie scanned his eyes around the monitor screen. He was in a private chat room typing messages in the message box before he pressed the 'enter' key. "There's so much junk mail," he mumbled to himself and scrolled down the screen, leaving the chat box blinking for a while. Each time he scrolled down, he selected the small box next to each new email he thought was junk, clicking over and over. "When will I ever get this emptied?" He glanced at the senders and scanned downwards until he found the one he had been searching for and clicked on it, forgetting about the undeleted junk mail. Quickly he switched to the chat box again while he waited for the browser to load and typed in a few words before totally closing the chat box by clicking on the cross on the corner of it. The browser finally loaded and Louie read the message, word for word. "Huh? Lu left the school today?" He read on, his emotions changing as he read. "Lucky girl, she gets to miss a few days of school." He licked his dry lips and started to reply the message, mumbling softly to himself as he typed it.

Zechs Merquise stepped into the library stealthily, hiding behind the plants while his little admiring crowd searched for his existence. If he hid long enough, the librarian would shoo them out and he would be able to resume his normal work. But this time he was going to search for something different; he was going to find a love poem since he knew the Shakespearean sonnets all to well and they were quite boring after a while. The librarian still hadn't noticed the crowd yet and so Zechs walked behind the computers, passing several users as he did so. They ignored him because they knew all too well what was happening and it happened almost every night, his attempts to stay hidden usually fooled them since they never realised him simple plan. He glanced at the monitor screen as he passed the computers. Everyone was typing up assignments during their free time or checking their emails, nothing new. When he looked up at the user at the end of the row, he realised it was Louie; just the one he was looking for. Quietly, he approached his classmate and whispered to him, although it was rather rude to whisper but in a situation like this he had no other choice.

"How can I help you Mr Merquise?" Louie asked softly, noting that Zechs was trying to stay hidden. He had just finished replying the email and it was sending through to his friend's email account.

"I was wondering whether you've seen Miss Lucretzia Noin tonight," Zechs asked, standing in a crouching position.

"I'm sorry Mr Merquise but I haven't the slightest clue where she is. As far as I know, she may have gone home," Louie stated. Actually he knew where Lucretzia was but he wasn't going to say anything to all popular Zechs Merquise. Louie didn't really like Zechs all that much, especially since he had fallen for his recently adopted god-sister. He was going to protect her from Zechs' secret admirer**s by making sure they didn't know who Zechs liked and keeping Zechs away from Lu was certainly the way to go. Besides if Zechs found out that Lu was the basketball player, a lot of trouble was definitely assured.**

**_A/N:__ I just blabbered on a bit and rushed the competition because I had no clue how I was going to write it. Isn't Duo sweet?! Now Zechs will have difficultly approaching Noin and Louie's being overly protective. Just giving our dear friend Zechs a slightly harder situation since in most stories Noin usually has the hard role of gaining Zechs' love. Hope this wasn't too boring and I'm awfully sorry about updating it so late! *sits in the naughty corner and sulks*_**

_By the way, I don't own GW or any of the characters!_


	7. The Wedding Day

**Perfection**

Chibi Tsuki

**_A/N: __This one came out much sooner too! Yay! I decided to put these ones out sooner because I'm sorry to say that the next chapter or both this story and my other stories will be coming out late because of stupid yearly exams which are quite more or less a disaster. My grades aren't anything near high and so, that adds to another factor to the reason of the lateness… I stop blabbering on now ^.^;;_**

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Chapter 6

The Wedding Day

Lucretzia gazed at her sister, her beauty had amazed everyone especially in the glamorous white wedding dress with the veil hanging neatly over her face. Beside her was her bridegroom, quite a charming and dazzling fellow too without the thick accent. Next to each other, they looked like a pair of lovebirds, standing out more brilliantly than other couples. Lu couldn't help but beam with pride as she continued watch in admiration, but then she turned towards her father and studied his expressions. He was grinned uncontrollably and proudly, it was like he had never been so proud before in his entire life up 'til now. If he was proud at a wedding then Lucretzia had a major problem to deal with soon… unless… unless she acted up again. That way there would be no way he could send her off to some foreign country like mail. Duo was somewhere within the crowd and Lucretzia was trying her best to spot him but unfortunately there were too many heads and they found her as a distraction because she sat at the very first row. The climax of the wedding was finally taking place; there was the kiss, then the bouquet and the reception afterwards. This was going to be over with soon enough and she could possibly pig out without her family noticing within the large crowds. Changing back into some jeans would be nice too. While Lucretzia was thinking to herself, everyone was applauding the pair, sniffing was heard which was expected. 

Aleena chuckled softly to herself, noticing her younger sister in thought, rather quiet and uncomplaining for once. She loved her dearly and was quite upset to think that they would have to separate for a longer period of time now that she had moved to live with her new husband. They wouldn't see as often in the holidays, perhaps at Christmas and other occasions. Gently, her husband squeezed her hand and gestured to the waiting ladies. Nodding back, she tossed the bouquet randomly towards the group, watching as they eagerly reached out for it with a little difficulty in their elegant dresses. Lucretzia glanced up and noticed the bouquet flying at her and hurried to get off the pew, not wanting it to land misfortunately on her. A pair of arms reached out and caught it just in time before it landed on the girl's head. Her sister was definitely throwing it to her on purpose. Slowly Lucretzia darted her eyes towards her saviour, noticing a young woman, not much other than her carrying the bundle with a triumphant look on her slightly plump face. Her face was painted in make-up and the false eyelashes certainly fluttered a lot. She pranced towards a young gentleman standing with a rather disgusted look on his face as she presented him her prize. _Poor girl. These days, girls were trying too hard to impress their men, when will they understand that men want simplicity and not caked layers of make-up? Lucretzia let out a held breath and exited the church, following some of the other guests out to the garden where they were to hold a rather light reception. Actually it wouldn't seem light to a little girl with a poor family, it was magnificent, piles of food for bundles and bundles of visitors. It had taken her quite a while to convince her parents to let her wear something simple to her sister's wedding, something as simple as a black mid-length skirt and a sleeveless white shirt. Surely people didn't have to be fancy to attend a wedding. Especially since it was rather pointless to have a sparkling competition and see who wore the most sparkling attire. When she found her cousin helping himself with the chocolate cake, she stealthily crept towards him which she wouldn't have been able to do if she wore those puffy dresses that several old-fashioned ladies adored. "Duo!" _

"Ah!" the braided boy yelled, jumping up in shock when he heard his name whispered right beside his ear. The piece of cake flew off his plate and in the air, landing onto the plate again looked rather splattered. Everyone glanced at him, staring at his startling behaviour. He apologised in crimson colours and when his audience turned away he looked around for the culprit who had ducked underneath the table. "Come on out Lucretzia Noin," he hissed softly as he placed his plate on top of the table along with the food. She couldn't have gone far and he was certain he knew where she had hidden. Suddenly, he lifted up the table cloth and stared into the eyes of a glaring girl. He yelled away, much softer this time and fell in an undignified way; on his rear. 

"Gotcha Duo," she giggled as she crawled out while the guests were busily chatting with themselves to notice the pair. Before Duo pounced on her, she gestured towards the food on the table and the large silver plates. Duo caught on easily and selected the food off the table while his cousin fetched the plate that seemed rather suitable. Once the food was piled on, the dashed off with an entire plate of goodies.

"Duo," Lu uttered, calling for his attention. "I've given your girl _the letter. She seemed polite and was rather attractive, I must admit." When she looked at him she burst into fits of laughter. Duo's face was entirely red including his ears. "No need to be that embarrassed kid." She laughed again. After she had given some time for Duo's face to revert to normal again she lay down on the grass and looked up at the clear blue sky and listened to the birds.___

"Hey Lu, did you ever realise that somebody was and still is chasing after you?"

"What do you mean?" she demanded, sitting back up in a flash. 

Sniggering at his cousin's reaction, Duo decided to take this a bit further to 'repay' her. "Well haven't you ever noticed the pair of eyes watching you from afar? Actually there may have been more..." He was about to say, 'but I've only noticed one', but stopped in time before it ruined the entire joke. 

"Who are they?" Lucretzia was speaking through bared teeth.

"Some people…"

"Who are the some people?"

"Someone who's madly in love with you." He grinned mischievously at his cousin's reaction, it was going according to his plan which he was making up as he went along. 

Abruptly, she rolled her eyes and fell back onto the grass again. "Don't say the name actually, I don't want to hear about it." 

Duo couldn't believe what he had heard, his cousin wasn't going to pursue this topic anymore? Usually in such things that involved her romantic life, she would be rather eager to hear it and let the fool know that there was no way she was going out on a date with him or anybody else to be precise. She didn't believe that dwelling on someone who wouldn't love you was a waste of time and the longer one loved, the harder it would be to accept the fact. "But it's the really, really popular gentleman of your year, Zechs Merquise." He couldn't help but blurt it out.

"No, no, no, no. No way, that is totally not going according to my plans. The less he knows about me, the better. What about my basketball career!" Lucretzia had her face hidden with her hands.

"Did you really decide to become a basketball player? I don't think your pa would be happy at all."

Turning to face him, Lucretzia sighed. "Silly Duo, of course I'm not going to be a basketball player. You know how everyone feels about females and physical sports that don't include tennis and swimming. Perhaps volleyball and ice skating, and no Duo, ballroom dancing isn't really classified as a sport." Duo closed his mouth again, hanging onto his cousin's every word. 

"So what shall we do about Zechs?"

"I don't know…"

The two enjoyed the silence, listening to the birds sing their songs of joy and happiness.

"If only I could be like the birds, free and easy. Away from the busy world of human kind, away from people who judge you on everything you do and everything you work so hard to do to please those who expect a lot from you." She suppressed a sigh and lightened the depressing mood instead. "Come on Duo, let's get back to the wedding. Perhaps there are some young ladies wanting for your appearance." Lucretzia grinned and finished the last of the cheese and biscuits. 

"Oi!" he yelled and got up after the running girl, turning back to collect the forgotten plate. 

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

Noticing her younger sister approaching, Aleena smiled and waved to her, noticing that Lu had gained height within the short term they were separated, she was nearly as tall as her. This was definitely a happy day. "Lu, where have you been?" she asked, gleaming at her sister. "I haven't properly introduced you to Matthew yet since Pa and Ma were too busy preparing for the wedding, fussing around on assorted issues and we were busy with them." 

Lucretzia's eyes darted up towards her sister and then towards her sister's bridegroom. He was smiling cheerfully just like Aleena. "Pleased to meet you Mr Parkes," Lu greeted bringing out a hand. 

"Just call me Matthew, Lucretzia," he replied and shook her hand firmly. Aleena placed a hand on her husband's arm and whispered, 

"She prefers to be called Lu." 

"Oh, I'm sorry Lu," he uttered, raising an eyebrow to produce a clueless face on purpose. Both girls chuckled.

Walking up to the group, Duo glanced at the trio, "What's going on? What did I miss out on?"

"Nothing Duo, nothing at all," Matthew replied, ruffling the younger boy's hair into a mess. 

Slowly approaching with the bridegroom's parents and his wife, Antonio Noin smiled cheerily at his older daughter and then glanced quickly at his younger daughter as if he hadn't noticed her at all. He spoke in his firm voice but with a little happiness that rarely surfaced when Lu was present, "I'm glad you youngsters are getting along." To his friends, he introduced Lucretzia who stood silently until the Parkes shook her hand and greeted her.

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

The next day, everyone departed to their next destination and Lucretzia back to school. She entered the school gates once again, much alike when she first came to the school except this time she was by herself, no father to tell her to fix up her collar, no maid to bustle her, only the silent companionship of the chauffer. When she had arrived at the closest airport to her school, an air hostess had given her a gift-wrapped box with a beautiful cobalt blue ribbon and light blue wrapping paper. The lady had told her to open it once Lucretzia had left the airport and now it sat on her lap, still unopened.

"Perhaps you want to open that box soon Miss Noin," the chauffer suggested, indicating at the box. Lu nodded in response and looked at the card that had been be carefully clipped onto the ribbon. It was from Aleena and Matthew. Raising her eyebrows, she pulled the ribbon, releasing the bow that had been neatly made. To her shock, something inside the box was pushing against the lid with hopeful force. Once the ribbon had been pulled through, the lid popped open and inside the box was a little fluffy creature crying for comfort. Lucretzia beamed and lifted it up at its arm pits and placed it on her lap. It was just too adorable! _This thing is just waayyy too cute to abandon. She stroked the kitten softly as it made little sounds, indicating that it was comfortable. "What shall I call you?" It had three white socks and a blazing white stripe down its navy-black body. The ears were also tipped with hints of white and if one looked closely, they would notice the few amber furs overlapping the white. It mewed in reply as if it understood. "Are you a little boy or girl?" She lifted the kitten up and surprisingly the sharp feline claws didn't come lashing at her like she had first expected. "A girl," Lu said in a contented voice, hugging the kitten._

The car halted near the bottom of the stairs to the school, the chauffer hurrying to open the passenger door before Lu stumbled out with her extra baggage. She glanced at the school and trudged towards it, her skirt fluttering in the air. It was nearly lunchtime which meant that she would have to attend the classes after lunch, unless… unless she made some excuse that she wasn't feeling well after the aeroplane trip. _Smart thinking… Placing the kitten onto the ground, she went to retrieve the small suitcase that she had taken with her and entered the school, the kitten instinctively followed her. Watching her, the chauffer shook his head and sighed; this noble was definitely much different that the young ladies he had driven around. Behind Lu, was the kitten, clambering up the stone steps, claws scratching the last step, supplemented with a distressed mewing. Lu chuckled to herself and bent down to pick up the creature. She checked into the school reception, claiming that she was feeling rather sick after the flight. Although the receptionist thought it was rather suspicious, she made no comment and simply let the girl stay in her dormitory after lunch, with a signed white slip that was to be given to the class teacher. _

Frolicking happy, the kitten amused itself with the vastness of the building and investigated the rubbish people had dropped on their way around, but when her new owner disappeared around the corner, she dashed after her; running in pure excitement. Soon they had arrived at Lucretzia's room and she had more or the less realised that her roommate's belongings had disappeared; the bed lay empty, just like the cupboards. _It was probably a room change. I wonder who's going to be my next roommate. She looked around and left her suitcase lying on its side on the pale-coloured carpet. "Lunchtime!" she squealed with delight and rushed out the door, nearly forgetting the black and white kitten, hidden underneath the bed. She sighed and kneeled beside the bed, calling for the kitten to come out. It playfully poked its head out and pulled its head back under, like a turtle but much faster. It dared itself to dart across the room to the opposite bed, hoping that Lu wouldn't be able to catch it, but unfortunately it was captured and was taken out of the room, away from the mysteriously exciting place; under the bed. Sighing with defeat, it climbed up onto her shoulder and decided to settle there, feeling cosy next to the warm pulse and neck. _

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

**_A/N: __Ooo… Noin's got a little kitten now, something which I randomly decided to put in ^.^;; Don't know why… Strange aren't I? Well I need help here, this is the _****Naming the Kitten Contest. Each contestant/reader needs to send in a name or two… or three and then I'll pick one from the bundle. How's that? Just as long as they aren't sophisticated to pronounce then I'm fine with it.**

_Wish me luck for the exams! Bai Bai~_


	8. Companion Fluffball

**Perfection**

Chibi Tsuki

**_A/N: __I'm back… even though I'm not meant to be for a short while… ^.^;; The names were very cute and it was a hard choice to pick so I tried to mention a few from each author. _**

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Chapter 7

Companion Fluffball

On her arrival to the dining hall, everyone had noticed the suspiciously cute looking bundle of fur cuddled against her neck although a rather large portion of the students had thought it to be merely a soft toy and that Lucretzia was quite childish. But this did not disturb her attitude towards the others in any way. She collected her sandwich and exited the main eating area. The cooks certainly wouldn't like it if they knew that Lu had brought a fluff ball into the kitchen since it was a private school with fine quality facilities, including dining hall. Preferring the air outside anyway, she escaped the curious stares and settled under a tree with soft ticklish grass. "Mew, mew, mew," the kitten cried happily as it tried to paw at her sandwich whilst trying to stay as cute as possible.

"You are a silly thing aren't you?" Lu giggled and let the kitten nibble a piece of ham which it accepted contently. "I still haven't named you yet…"

"Hey Lu," a familiar voice greeted and without looking up, Lucretzia knew who it was; Louie. "I see you're back and with a kitten too?" He smiled with a hint or surprise in his eyes.

"Yeah, meet my new kitten," she grinned as he took a seat next to her and studied the small creature.

"It looks awfully small for a kitten, it's a runt; a cute runt. So have you named it yet?" The kitten was glaring him at first but when he started tickling her on the neck, she purred adorably. Lucretzia shook her head in defeat. "How about… Socks or Cinnamon Doughnut? Chocolate's a good name."

She looked at him disappointedly and punched him gently in the arm, "Is food all you think about? There is more to just food in this world you know."

"Alright, alright, I'll think of something else. What about Knight as in warrior?"

"It's a girl…" 

"Oh, um… Night as in 'midnight'?"

Suddenly, she jumped to the feet, startling the young kitten that fell dizzily into Louie's lap instead. "Midnight, it seems to be a good name for her, don't you think?" She glanced down at him, waiting for a reply which came instantly. The kitten also mewed in reply although the pair was rather suspicious whether the feline was actually able to understand what they said and they immediately came to the decision that it couldn't as it pounced after a butterfly. They sighed and settled under the tree again, enjoying the shade and breeze.

"How was your sister's party?" he asked with a sense of delightfulness. 

"It was wonderful."

"Who caught the bouquet?"

"My sister threw it towards me on purpose but luckily someone else caught it." The wandering kitten raced back and pawed Lucretzia's bare thigh, looking longingly at the sandwich. 

Louie laughed heartily and muttered, "But I thought all ladies would be happy to catch it, not the opposite way around." Lu could not resist the temptation to laugh along with Louie and defended herself with words,

"I apologise sincerely Mr. Erans, but unfortunately, I am not the typical lady." She sounded so profession in speech and yet hilarious at the same time. This time, Louie cracked up and rolled around laughing.

"I never thought this day would come, to hear you sound so much like a real lady." Finally they settled down again. "So Lu, are you going to watch my basketball game or do you prefer otherwise?" the words were supplemented with a wink.

"I think I'll just be a spectator," she grinned and finished off the rest of her sandwich, dropping strips of ham for the kitten. They left the area towards the gym while Midnight decided to sleep in Lu's arms. "Midnight's too tired already, I wonder how much energy she'll have tonight if she's going to sleep her day away like this." Squeezing through an awfully large crowd, Lucretzia pondered silently why there was so a large audience inside the gym. She asked her friend and he replied, explaining that lunch was lengthened because of the match between their school and another rivalling school. There was going to be a twenty minute warm-up starting soon. "I want to play, but they won't let me because I haven't really been considered into a proper school team."

"There'll be a next time," he uttered.

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

Louie had gone off to his team mates while Lu seated next to a girl with darkish honey brown hair in neat plaits on the stadium-like seats. "Hello, my name is Sally Po," she greeted with a particularly attractive smile. Speaking in the same polite tone, Lucretzia introduced herself and suddenly found herself having something in common with this girl, although she didn't know what. It seemed to be the way she spoke that caught her attention. Lu smiled, thinking optimistically. "You're in my Physical Education class, with Mr Anderson, am I correct?" Lu nodded, now recognising the girl. "You a basketball fan too?" 

Enthusiastically, Lucretzia muttered, "Yes, you seem to like basketball fan, are you?"

"I like basketball too. I personally think it's a great sport although the school doesn't permit us to play so I play during the holidays with my friends. Do you play?"

"I'm like you but I used to play everyday at my former school at lunch." She sighed let her eyes fall downwards towards Louie and hugged the kitten tighter.

Noticing her strange tension, Sally changed the conversation and gasped softly when her eyes laid on Midnight. "What a cute little kitten, what's its name?" 

"Midnight," Lu relaxed slightly. 

Zechs Merquise scanned around the gym, even up at the spectator seats which were designed to be like the seats in stadiums. There were so many people, he could barely find Relena within the crowd. He adjusted his pony tail and wiped a dry towel against his sweaty palms and neck. Looking slightly to the right, he noticed someone fairly familiar, Sally Po from several of his classes and… Lucretzia, the lovely maiden he'd been dreaming about nearly everyday. "Lucretzia," he murmured, gazing at her with his icy blue eyes with pure passion. 

Abruptly noticing Zechs' endless stare on his adopted 'god-sister', Louie scowled and approached him, hiding his emotions. "Come on Mr Merquise, they're waiting for you." He rejoined the group with Zechs following behind although his eyes were still glued to Lu's.

"Snap out of it Zechs," Treize slapped his friend casually on the shoulder and finally broke the link. "I'm sure she'll prefer you playing more than staring continuously like a fool at her." He spoke at a low whisper, smirking at the same time. Acknowledging his friend's advise and the start of the game, Zechs wrapped a orange bandana with white randomly curved lines around his forehead, to avoid his fringe from poking into his eye whilst playing. Called for the jump ball, Zechs fixed a face of determination and focused his attention for the sound of the whistle, ready to pounce like a fierce lion. 

Midnight hissed playfully and pounced coincidentally at the sound of the whistle with a white paw clawing at Sally's unfortunate plait. Lucretzia was appalled and scolded the kitten before pulling her back to her lap where she could fiddle with the scrunched up baking paper from her sandwich. But Sally merely giggled and said, "It's alright, she can play with my plait if she wants to, just as long as she doesn't chew on it."

"I'm pretty doubtful you know Sally. I bet this little terror will chew anything," Lu sighed, tickling Midnight's black velvety chest. When the pair heard a loud cheer they looked up, noticing their school's basketball team seem slightly relaxed in their navy blue and white basketball uniforms. "Two goals within the first five minutes, not bad." 

"Did you underestimate the Blue Falcons?" Sally asked, obviously comfortable when speaking with Lucretzia. "They are a strong team and maybe with that other guy who plays at lunch, perhaps they can be even stronger."

"Who is the 'other guy'?" Lu asked, knotting her eyebrows as she tried to pick up information.

At first Sally laughed, thinking that Lucretzia was just being sarcastic but when she kept the look on her face, Sally became to believe her. "In fact he's really mysterious, always wears a cap so that no one sees his face but he's a awesome basketball player although there doesn't seem to be any recognition of him joining any basketball teams." So that was how everyone thought of her; truthfully she preferred that they thought of her like that than anything more and nodded automatically after Sally had finished explaining. "Call me Sally instead of Miss Po," she said abruptly.

"Alright, then call me Lu or Lucretzia, preferably Lu," Lucretzia uttered, glad to have made a new friend. "Which dormitory room are you in Sally?"

"Number 402, although I'll be changing rooms at the end of term like everyone else, what about you?"

"Mine is 389."

Managing to save some scraps from dinner, Lucretzia brought the small delightful meal back to her kitten whilst holding an ice cream container and a thick book about cats in one hand. She twisted to knob and pushed into the room to see the kitten leaning over a damp puddle on her desk. "Ah, NO!" she yelled in frustration as she nearly dropped everything to the ground. After some serious wiping, Lucretzia managed find free time for a relaxing shower since quite a few students had left for the weekend to return to their own homes. The tap turned on and she shut herself inside the shower cubicle, letting the warm water pour onto her skin and down her body. This was about the only time she could think privately to herself without interruptions since most of her time was rather packed during school and there wasn't any spare time to just laze around. _Midnight__, she's a cutie, but I must get her some stuff tomorrow or else my room will stink or cat pee. Groaning in frustration, she ran her slender fingers through her soaked hair, combing the shampoo through. _

The room was strangely dark, simply different to the way she remembered it to be. Perhaps she was just thinking too much but when she felt the bundle of fluff next to her, she automatically relaxed and let sleep and dreams envelope her instead. "Good night, Midnight," she whispered just as her heavy eyelids closed.

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

"Morning Louie," Lucretzia uttered as she made her way towards the school gates, Midnight fitting perfectly on top of her cap. The dark blonde-haired gentleman greeted in reply and yawned, covering his mouth. "You seem to be very tired. Did you have a late night?" Louie nodded and led the way to the main group for their weekly shopping needs in the town centre. Although most would expect a gentleman to wear something better than track pants, a T-shirt and a backwards cap, Louie couldn't be bothered to search his cupboard for something more respectable and for that reason, he had been given a warning whereas Lucretzia had arrived late and missed the teacher, which was a relief.  

"What do you need to buy Lu- Noin?" he asked as they left the school grounds, heading towards the centre which was no more than a three minute walk, luckily. 

"Cat food and a litter tray since something decided to use my desk as a toilet," she grunted as Louie looked at the kitten for a response which never came. "You?"

"Nothing much I guess," he answered tiredly, yawning once again. Lucretzia glanced suspiciously at him and studied him for a little while before he began to notice. "What?"

She pouted her lips slightly and narrowed her eyes then finally nodded. "You must have a purpose Mr. Erans for coming with me although I don't know what." He suddenly looked at her in an alert fashion, seeming rather tense with his lifted eyebrows. "That I will find out later." Soon they arrived at the centre of the shopping town and decided upon a meeting time, agreeing on twelve-thirty. Casually, Lu headed towards familiar shops, glancing through the windows while noting the time. They had approximately two hours to shop, which to her, was more than enough. She walked around, glancing at the new clothes currently in fashion, admiring a particular top before Louie hurried her on. "Don't you know that it's rude to hurry someone?" Shrugging, Louie cast a cheeky smile and walked along beside her quietly.

Just as the sign flipped around so that 'open' was displayed to the street, Lucretzia decided to drop into the shop, tucking Midnight into Louie's arms while he waited outside, looking rather 'lost'. "Welcome," the store keeper smiled, grinning cheerfully as she stepped in with a bright smile on her face. "Please, have a look around." Lu nodded politely and glanced around the small, yet tidy shop as she admired the coloured fish and birds displayed in the pet shop. She approached a shelf with neatly placed items and decided to select several products before asking the store keeper for advice on cats. "A kitten," he murmured as he took the words into thought and filled her on the information about cats and even giving her dry-cat food samples to see which one her pet preferred. This man was fairly nonchalant with his customer and Lu definitely approved of the friendly chat even though Louie seemed to be rather tedious, standing outside with a kitten settled in his lap, waiting forever for Lu to come out. After about five minutes, a pair of girls started conversing with him, laughing and chatting happily. He recognised them as girls from their school in Year 8 and he could not help but talk with them since he was already bored to the bone. 

"What type of kitten is it Miss?" the store owner said in interest, wiping his hands against a damp towel by the counter as he calculated the price. 

Lucretzia shrugged and said, "I'm not sure but she's outside right now, shall I bring her in?"

The man smiled, nodding. "I'll be happy to see what type of breed she is." Immediately, Lucretzia rushed outside, not noticing the girls and collected Midnight off her friend's lap. "Hm…" The man was studying the kitten as it kept its eyes on him, cautious of his every action. "She's a sweet little Balinese," he finally stated and searched around for something, grinning when he found it. "Although she won't grow much higher than she already is, she definitely has a lively spirit." He brought out a titbit and fed it to the kitten that accepted her luck gratefully, mewing a thanks. 

"Thanks for helping sir," she muttered with a smile and paid the man the sum of her items. She glanced at the receipt and noticed the discount. "Sir, what's with the ten percent discount?"

"Just a treat," he replied and smiled, displaying dimples. The raven-haired teen thanked him again and exited the shop, to find that Louie was chatting heartily to three girls now. _I swear that he was talking to two before. She shrugged and waved casually to him, but was unable to catch his attention. Sighing Lucretzia adjusted her cap, letting Midnight clamber back up to her shoulder while she held a supply of cat accessories between her knees. When she was all ready to leave, she headed towards back where she had came from, yelling while leaving her back to face her friend, "I'll see ya Louie." Startled, the chatting male glanced towards his friend's direction, noticing her leaving without him. _

"Hey wait up Noin!"

Behind him, the girls cast a glance at each other and pondered for a while. "Noin? Could he be?"  

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

**_A/N:__ I've finally managed to finish the next chapter, especially since Demon-princzess was annoying me the entire afternoon for an update. It's only my first day of exams and when I'm supposed to be studying, I type out a chapter?! I'm ashamed of myself. Oh well… I'll survive. Decided to give Louie some popularity with girls, hoped you like that part! Any more ideas/suggestions you wish to give me? I was thinking about to a short side story about Midnight and her adventures but that'll have to come later because I just have too much in my hands._**


	9. Holidays

**Perfection**

Chibi Tsuki

**_A/N: __It's been too hot in __Australia__ for me and I haven't been feeling up to typing any stories lately._**

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

Chapter 8

Holidays

For the following week, Zechs had been unable to find the one named Lucretzia unless he was in her class but then she would disappear ever so quickly as if she was avoiding him. He didn't understand why though but always tried to keep himself from going all soft and sentimental around her and because of his strange waffling attitude, his female school-mates continued to believe that he was more or less in love with someone and they were jealous. Glancing up from his desk, he gazed at Lucretzia's back dreamily while she scribbled the answer onto the whiteboard with a marker. Although Treize was in a year above his friend, he had immediately realised that Zechs had been intoxicated by that particular girl, the one with the cute smile and dark wavy hair. "Zechs? Zechs Merquise? Please head to your next lesson now," a voice uttered in a stern tone. Slowly, he turned to the speaker and suddenly, he was out of his trance and nearly off his seat.

"Sor… Sorry sir," he mumbled when he realised the teacher was standing right in front of him. He recollected himself, grabbed his books and fled the classroom as the last of the female students chuckled at this cute episode. Zechs brushed his bangs back behind his ear as best as he could and sighed. His ponytail swung hopelessly as he moved. Just as he walked around the corner, he noticed the familiar back of the girl he had been staring at during his last lesson. She was chatting cheerily with Louie Erans, with something black settled against her neck. The thing looked up at him, its blue eyes gleaming at him before settling back against her neck. Suddenly, a strange emotion ran through him, as if the creature was trying to talk to him. But it had definitely lightened his dim mood at the when he saw the pair walking. 

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

Lucretzia dumped her books on the opposite bed and stretched with a wide grin on her face. Currently it was the holidays and basically everyone was going home, other than several of the house keepers and students, along with the principal who was a permanent resident. Apparently, she had learned that this school was actually owned by some rich family within the area, although their names were never mentioned. Altogether there were about eleven students staying within the school during the holidays because their family insisted that they stay at the school. Usually it was because their parents didn't particularly want them back home, thinking that boarding school would be better than at home where they can slack off and this was Lucretzia's case. But her sister had promised that once they were able to arrange their new home and organise everything properly, Aleena would take her to her home sometime during the fortnight of freedom. Until then, Lucretzia was stuck in the boarding house. Promising to return early to keep her company, Louie had left late in the afternoon on the plane, back to his own home somewhere not too far away. At least Midnight would always be by her side and she could spend the money her father had left in the bank. It definitely wasn't a small amount but she never really bought much except perhaps some clothes and a new pair of track pants, not to mention cat food. 

She walked out of the dormitory and towards the main hall to watch the other students leave the school. It was often interesting to watch the reunion between a boarder and their parents. "They seem so happy to reunite, I wish it was the case between my father and I," she mumbled to her kitten who merely mewed in reply. She leaned against the railing and watched the students leave via the front entrance. Suddenly she noticed the particular blonde-haired gentleman, placing a gentle hand on his sister's shoulder. Beside Relena was another student whom Lu recognised as Hilde Schbeiker; Duo's 'girlfriend'. She pondered for a second, Hilde didn't have any luggage with her at all. Perhaps Hilde would be leaving later in the day or week. She cast a glance at Zechs and their eyes came in contact and for a second she was unable to take her eyes off his icy and yet beautiful blue eyes. Then she noticed his bangs obscuring his eyes partially, much like her own bangs. His strong and elegant face didn't stay unnoticed but Lucretzia tore her eyes away and walked away, back to her own dormitory to change into more comfortable clothes. 

Zechs felt a tinge of disappointment as she turned away but was secretly happy to have held her gaze for sometime. He would visit her, sometime probably soon just to get to know her better. 

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

After Lucretzia changed into her cargo pants, a plain T-shirt and some sneakers, she set off to the computer room. Hopefully she would be able to finish some holiday assignments given to her by the teachers. It would use up some of her extra time, just like her daily sessions of sport. The gym had recently opened to female users as well since it was proven that female bodies were able to handle the same equipment as the male population within the school, something Lucretzia had been grateful for. 

As she stepped into the computer room, she accidentally knocked into someone and immediately apologised before bending down to pick up her books. The person she bumped into nearly beat her to picking up her books and handed Lucretzia the books. "Thanks," Lu uttered and began to walk away until the person called out to her.

"Excuse me but are you by any chance staying here these holidays?" Lucretzia turned around and faced the boy who stood quite a bit shorter than her with gentle hazel-green eyes and short blonde hair. Lucretzia nodded with a smile. "There aren't many students I know that board here and so would it be alright if we became friends?"

Looking slightly surprised at the random comment, Lu stifled a giggle and avoided saying what was in her head. _Although I must admit that you are a rather strange __person, I wouldn't mind. "Sure, my name is Lucretzia Noin. I'm not much of a lady so I hope you don't mind," she admitted truthfully as Midnight purred in agreement. __I seriously think that this kitten knows what I'm talking about. _

The boy laughed happily and shook his head. "I don't mind whether my new friend is a proper lady or not. By the way, my name is Quatre Raberba Winner, I'm pleased to meet you," he seemed to a cheerful fellow and certainly had a polite side. "I'm in Year 8 this year so I'm turning fourteen this year."

"I'm only one grade higher and one year older than you. This here kitten is Midnight."

"Pleased to meet you, Midnight." The kitten mewed again and snuggled back against Lu's neck.

"Well it is best that I do my work or else I won't have much free time left," Lucretzia stated. "I'll see you at dinner." Quatre nodded and waited until she had disappeared from his sight before leaving. 

By the time it was dinner, Lucretzia had managed to complete an assignment and had even showered; refreshed for dinner. She entered the basically empty hall, feeling rather small in such a large area. But Midnight reassured her that she wasn't alone by pawing at her trousers. Lu glanced down at the kitten and smiled before heading towards the front of the kitchen, to the serving area. They still had cooks and of course the boarding students' own families had to pay extra for their boarding, food, use of school facilities and the supervision during the holidays. But the food during the holidays were even better than during normal school days although the quality was already high standard. Tonight's course was spaghetti, the Italian dish that Lucretzia had missed dearly. Although the spaghetti tasted delicious, it would never beat Eva's and that was something Lu didn't deny. Quatre had entered the dining hall not long after her and together they seated at the table as the other school-mates entered the hall. Familiar faces stepped into the hall and immediately, Lucretzia grinned at them. Filing in behind Hilde Schbeiker was Sally Po. They seemed to be chatting happily to each other and were even more thrilled when they noticed Lu. 

There were several others students, two supposedly from Year 10 and another from Year 11, all three being males but then there were Hilde's friend and several Year 7 students. Seated in a distance away from the students were the two cooks and several supervisors who were to make sure that everything was under control during the student's stay at school. Towards the end of the meal, a teenager looking around Quatre's age entered the dining hall and collected his dinner. He settled at a table by himself and seemed as if preferred isolation. Lucretzia sympathised him. She stood up and approached him in a friendly manner.

"Hey, do you want to sit with us?" Lucretzia asked in a gentle tone.

Glancing up, the boy cast her a rather cold glance and replied, "No thanks, I'll be fine." His words didn't turn out as cold as his eyes but Lu had the feeling that she was unwanted.

"Alright then, if you ever get bored then come and sit with us." 

"Hn."

"See ya then." Slowly making her way back towards her friends, she shrugged and finished her dinner with Midnight pawing hungrily at her trousers. Then she started climbing onto Lu's lap with seriously sharp feline claws which made her mistress wince. 

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

Changed and ready, Noin was going to stay up slightly longer before finally retiring to sleep. It had been a long day with lessons and then working hard in the computer room. Her father believed her to be a rather disorganised and faineant being when it came to school work even though her grades and marks from her previous private school were all top marks. That was because he never stayed at home long enough to see her work. If he wasn't leaving for a conference with China, he was invited to visit Germany. Lu pouted at the thought but then her mind had turned to her mother who had supported her all along; although subtle, she could feel it was there. "Perhaps it's time to write a letter to Mother but then Father will also read it," she frowned at what she had said and sighed. "I'll just write to Eva then." Settling at her desk she found several sheets of fancy letter paper that Eva had managed to sneak into her suitcase and picked up her pen. She stared at the piece of paper for a while, wondering where to start from since there was so much to talk about even though they had chatted last time at her sister's wedding. Suddenly the door knocked and Lu dropped her pen to open the door. Who would be visiting her so late? 

"Lu?" her visitor smiled and shifted on her legs, "Do you think I'll be stay in the same room as you during the holidays?"

Lucretzia chuckled and replied, "Sure Sally, as long as you don't mind the cat and her stuff around the room."

"I don't mind at all." So the pair started moving Sally's belongings to Lu's room; the room being quite spacious anyway. They felt exhausted after rearranging items and unpacking books and instantly fell asleep on their beds. Midnight came back from relieving herself of her thirst and clamoured up the books Lu had made for her as a ladder to her bed. She walked over the hills that were formed and finally stumbled next to her owner's head and snuggled against her neck.

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

Already in her track pants and favoured sports top, Lucretzia readjusted her cap and checked her basketball for its flatness. It had been a while since she pumped it and it was squished into her luggage when she came here since her father was definitely going to complain if he realised what she'd brought with her. She made her way to the storage room and gathered the machine used to pump up any time of sporting ball which needed air. It was much faster than pumping it manually. Once she was done, she exited the storage room and tested out the basketball. Casting a glance at her kitten, she smiled when she saw that the creature hadn't moved and in fact was watching intently in a sitting position. Lucretzia bounced the ball steadily as she eyed the ring and then shot. The ball went through perfectly and bounced before rolling on the polished indoor ground. 

Standing at the gym entrance was the boy who had isolated himself from everyone else, a smug grin on his face. He approached Lucretzia, letting his footsteps be loud enough for her to hear so that she knew his presence. Lu shot the ball and glanced around at the boy, her emotions hidden under her cap. His grin had disappeared before she saw it. "So you're the one who wins against Zechs Merquise; the one they call Noin right?" he asked in a monotone. 

"I am," Lu uttered in reply and smiled. 

"Let's have a match to see whether you really are as they say."

Noin laughed and accepted the game in a firm response. 

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

**_A/N: __Slightly shorter than usual but please bear with me. As you've probably guessed that 'boy' is who else other than Heero Yuy. Hopefully I'll have a next chapter up soon. Ja ne! _**


	10. Not That Weak

**Perfection**

Chibi Tsuki

**_A/N:__ Sorry – very short chapter!_**

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

Chapter 9

Not That Weak

Heero glanced at the mysterious person in front of him, his eyes focused on the person while his hand kept in contact with the basketball. The rubbery texture felt comfortable as it sprung up from the floor and pushed against the ball of his palm. His Prussian blue eyes darted from the teenager before him back to the backboard. He brought his right foot over to his left foot to feint a run but Noin had anticipated the move and followed brought her hands up to follow the ball as he moved. Casting a sideways glance, Heero shifted his weight to the right and made a three hundred and sixty degrees turn, allowing himself space to attempt a shot. The ball fell through the ring and bounced on the floor twice before Noin retrieved it. She was only warming up at the moment; she wasn't going to allow the boy to beat her. Her hands ran expertly over the basketball, feeling its bumps before starting to bounce it. Walking back to the halfway line, she lifted her head up slightly so that she had full view of the boy and smiled softly. He was standing no more than two metres away from her looking ready and confident. Slowly, she approached him, her sneakers pressing against the floor lightly. She suddenly charged at him, dodging to the right at the last second but Heero wasn't easily startled and he brought his hand up to block the shot. One second too slow; the ball went in. Both understood that the other was definitely no push-over. 

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

Panting, the pair stared at each other intensely. Sweat poured down their necks as they prepared for another round. The brown-haired boy darted to the side with the basketball bouncing low. He shuffled to the right, twisted his body around and was about to shoot when Noin's fingers came tipping the ball out of his hands. She smiled in triumph and rushed off back to the halfway line with Heero hot in pursuit. Neither player was winning so far, both had scored the same score, leaving one more goal to determine the winner. Swiftly, Noin bounced the ball behind her as Heero advanced, trying to swipe the ball off her. But she had managed to manoeuvre around him fast enough. Heero turned with her and slapped the ball out of her hand before she managed to shoot. Retrieving the ball, Noin charged up to the penalty line and tried for a goal. The ball circled the ring and fell off on the side, to be in possession of Heero once again. Neither player was prepared to back down. Noin smirked and slowly advanced towards him, her senses alert at all times. The boy too smirked and walked with the ball bouncing. He curved towards the left, tracing the outline of the key before charging inwards for another try. But Noin dived at the gap between Heero and the basketball, stealing the ball once again. This last round was taking its time but neither player cared. Only a few steps from the three-point line, Noin darted forwards once again and shot as Heero's hand knocked her cap in an attempt to push the ball over. Falling to the ground, the dark-coloured cap landed harshly, just like the basketball after falling through the ring. 

This time the victory went to Noin as she retrieved the cap and the basketball, leaving Heero staring in half-amazement and amusement. Placing her cap back on her head, the raven-haired girl smiled and asked, "Aren't you coming for lunch? Or are you just going to stand there." Heero grunted, noticing a pair of blue eyes staring at him. He heard a mew and watched as a kitten stepped from under the seat, following its owner with short, quick steps. A certain warm friendly feeling washed over him as he followed in slight hurry while keeping his mask of solitary on. He decided that if his classmate, Wufei Chang play against this girl in basketball, he would surely reconsider his opinions towards females. Perhaps he wouldn't call them all 'weaklings', his friend's favourite term for females even though he didn't classify them that way.

They were the last to enter the dining room, obviously since there were only two paper bags left with their lunch order written on it. The cooks too had left the dining hall leaving the pair to gather their lunch and find somewhere to sit usually in the front gardens. "Mew, mew," Midnight pawed at Noin's tracksuit pants with anxiety before making a hopeless climb up her legs. 

"Come on Midnight, off girl," she murmured and shook the kitten. But unfortunately the cat's sharp claws clung into her trousers. 

Heero hide a grin behind his hand, pretending to sneeze but he wasn't fast enough, as Lu caught his smirk and merely made a face at him. She picked up the kitten and placed her gingerly onto her shoulder before striding outside with her lunch held firmly in her hand, away from Midnight's swiping claws. Following her, Heero seemed to loosen up, clearly shown by his smiling Prussian-blue eyes under his thick brown hair.

**_A/N: __Please forgive me!_**


	11. To Learn Manners

**Perfection**

Chibi Tsuki

**_A/N: _**_I'm sorry for the late update. (I think I've apologised in every update…) I'm pathetic at describing clothes so you can pretend I didn't type that in. By the way, I'm no horoscope reader/writer either._

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

Chapter 10

To Learn Manners

She lay on her bed, thinking back to the time when she was sent away to another country. He had said very clearly before he left her at her new school, "I give you half a year to learn some manners, if you pass the test then you may return to Italy and finish your education there." How dearly she wanted to return home and go back to her old school, to reunite with her friends whom she had never separated from since primary school. They had sent letters to her every month and in their letters they explained about what had been happening lately, the school functions and most importantly how much they had missed her. _I miss every one of you too. _"I have one term left to change, if I don't start now then I'll never get it done!" Lucretzia sat up and glanced around the room. Midnight had most probably gone after Sally to search for some breakfast, leaving her alone to do whatever she pleased. Searching through her entire closet, she selected a skirt and a blue three-quarter sleeved top and laid them gently on her bed. After finalising her choice she put them on and glanced at herself through the mirror. She brushed her hair quickly and pulled on some socks and her cleaner pair of sneakers, leaving her other pair in the closet, away from her kitten's playful jaw and claws. Shoes were one of Midnight's favourite play toys, especially the laces since they were long and snake-like. 

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

"Morning Lu," Sally and Hilde greeted the second Lucretzia stepped into the dining hall. They were halfway finishing their breakfast and supposedly the other boarders were also finished with their own morning meal. As soon as she collected two pieces of cinnamon toast she felt a tugging at the very edge of her socks. Nibbling away at her sock was the little devil she had once called cute. Actually it was a devil in an angel's disguise and of course the disguise was made to be the very best. 

"Hey, stop it!" she chided the suddenly silent creature, sulking away as if had realised its improper actions. When Midnight had calmed down she offered a few crumbs of her toast.

"When's your birthday Lu?" Hilde asked, smiling nonchalantly.

"Mm… the 7th of May."

"My birthday's on the 7th too! But the 7th of January." While speaking, Hilde was flipping through a magazine, stopping at the desired page and then trailing her finger down the page, after a specific word. "That means that you're a Taurus! Let me read your horoscope… 

"Although you may independent and often self-reliant, you should consider help from those around you. There will those who seek your friendship because of your vibrant personality, do not let your ego get the better of you, but there is happiness and adventures heading your way, be sure to take this opportunity.

"There's more but it's all about romance, do you want to read the rest?" Without hesitation, Lucretzia declined the offer and pondered over the words Hilde had just read out to her. She didn't feel particularly vibrant but what it had said about her being independent was quite true.

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

Walking down the corridor towards the dormitories, the trio chatted away happily. But then out of nowhere, Lu asked, "Can you two teach me proper manners?" 

Hilde and Sally stood silent, staring at Lucretzia confusedly. "Proper manners mean hiding your personality away," Sally responded after a while. "It means that you have to be polite to everyone and everything. You'll speak like a proper princess, and that means, no slang, no shouting and yelling at the top of your voice."

"It does? I never knew that there was so much to learning proper manners," the older raven-haired girl sighed, her shoulders feeling suddenly heavy. 

"We can help you though," Hilde said cheerily, placing an arm around Lu's neck. "We'll teach you the simple manners, that way you can be polite when you need to be, and on normal occasions; be yourself!" 

"Thanks you two!" 

Both Hilde and Sally shook their head at Lu, and spoke in unison, "It's 'Thank you'!"

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

Throughout the rest of the day, Lucretzia was practising how to walk properly, balancing a thick hard-cover textbook on her hand. The walking wasn't the difficult part, but the walking in a straight line with the book in a moderate pace was nearly impossible, to her that is. After over seven hours of picking the fallen book up and re-trying, she had managed to succeed thrice and was continuing to improve. The other two had called it a day already, even Midnight followed them, leaving Lucretzia to call the cat a traitor. That night, all three of them fell asleep once the light was turned off, not waking until nine o' clock the next morning. 

"We've made the schedule up," Sally announced as they sat down to breakfast. "Today we're going to do some shopping, tomorrow is a session for ballroom dancing; we'll just teach the basics as the school will probably teach it later. On Monday is ice skating, but-"

Lucretzia interrupted, grinning happily, "So that means we can go speed skating!"

"Let me finish," Sally scowled and continued on. "But we'll be doing figure skating, and in the afternoon we'll teach you dining manners. That means no spaghetti slurping!"

"Aw… But that's the best bit!" Both girls gave her a serious glare which silenced Lu immediately. 

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

**_A/N: _**_Another__ short, short chapter. Gomen!!! It was really crap. The writer's block has returned and although it's not welcome, it happens to be staying no matter how much I try to push it out of the window. _


	12. The Battle on Ice

**Perfection**

Chibi Tsuki

**_A/N: _**_I'm still alive!_

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

Chapter 11

The Battle on Ice

They queued up patiently in the line, waiting for their turn to purchase a ticket. Today seemed to be a popular day for the ice, because there were over a hundred people waiting in line. Also perhaps because the ice skating rink was recently built, in a perfect location, situated in one of the most popular shopping centres near the middle of town. It was also convenient when travelling since the shopping centre was just above a major bus station, and beside the railway. 

"There are more than twenty people in front of us, I just wish that they would open another counter," Sally murmured. As if on queue, another cashier did open which Lu made an instant dash for, missing out on the front of the queue. Lu managed to beat other people to the second place in the queue with her agility. She waved her hands for Sally and Hilde to follow, but because so many people had charged to the second line, there were only three more people left until them. With a shrug, Lu purchased her ticket and waited for them on the other side. The pair came through shortly and together they made their way to a rental locker. 

"I like the layout here, it's rather spacey and the lockers are quite big, with two shelves!" Hilde exclaimed as she opened the locker door and peeped inside. She placed her sports bag inside after taking out a pair of recently sharpened skates and sat down to put them on. Sally too followed Hilde's actions and put on her own skates, testing the sharpness of her blades with satisfaction. Lucretzia brought out a totally different set of skates; big and bulky unlike the figure skates. They were black in colour, with a ragged red strips on the sides of both skates. Beside her, Sally and Hilde were ready to scold, their fingers already wagging at her. But before they said anything, she brought another pair of skates out of her sports bag; worn and slightly weathered compared to her friends' skates. "It's not in top condition, but a figure skate is a figure skate, right?" Smiling, Sally grinned and continued to tie the laces up. 

"Let's go!" Hilde yelled as they ran onto the ice, sliding smoothly and gracefully in her skating uniform. She glided back over to the pair and watched as they made their way over to her, trying to cross the traffic of people. Once they had gotten to the middle, Hilde started showing Lucretzia the basics while Sally helped her with her posture and grace. Obviously it wasn't working that well since Lu was often being chided by her two tutors who were pointing every single detail out. After ten minutes, she was able to complete an entire circle balancing on a single leg; it wasn't a difficult task since she had a good balance but the hard part was holding her leg that high in the air while bending so far forward with both arms forming a 't' shape. Going backwards while lifting her leg was a slightly different matter, as a matter of fact, it was a great contrast that they had spent over thirty-minutes just trying to help her to keep her balance. 

"You can do it Lu," Sally encouraged her as she attempted another in going backwards. She was finally beginning to get the grasp of it and it meant a break for both Sally and Hilde. "Practise a few more times, Hilde and I are going to get some hot chips an coke, do you want any?"

"No thanks," Lu replied as she tried again, this time going further than to attempt prior to this one. _I must be able to do this one or else I'll never get to do jumps or spins. But one problem, I'm getting tired… Perhaps I should've gotten Hilde to buy something for me. _

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

Nevertheless she continued to practise until she finally mastered the basic technique and that was when the other two returned after finishing their meal. 

"Can you two teach my how to spin next?" Lu begged, giving them her puppy-dog eyes, not that it worked or anything. 

"I'm going to do some skating too," Sally said casually as if she didn't hear Lu at all. She followed the majority of the skaters following the anti-clockwise direction with ease. Without another word Hilde skated off too, leaving Lucretzia to decide what she wanted to do. 

She sighed and left the ice rink in search of something to eat and change out of the current skates into a different pair. _Some speed skating will revive my spirit! _Her dark-coloured skates were a big contrast to her baggy beige-coloured pants, but her black T-shirt with the words 'ice' written in light silvery-blue balanced her outfit. At first the other two had complained that she shouldn't have worn such clothes but Lu had convinced them otherwise. After adjusting the tightness of her skates, she made her way back onto the ice, her recently sharpened blades slicing through the thin sheets of ice. Off she glided, passing in between people, apologising several times when she'd frightened the other skaters. It was hard to speed skate properly when there were other skaters waving their arms at you because you slipped in front of him or her within a split second and they only realised once you'd left. Actually, she pitied them ever since she came to realise that a long time ago she was like them. It's the truth, you can't please everyone. Lucretzia slowed down at the wall where her two friends were, chatting casually to a teenager of their age. 

"Hey Lu!" Hilde waved as the older raven-haired teen halted beside her. "This is my friend from school, Cathy. She just finished her lesson."

Smiling courteously, Lucretzia shook the newcomer's hand, noticing how her curly brown hair would cover her cheekbone slightly and her sparkling blue eyes. "It's a pleasure to meet you Miss Lucretzia Noin," Cathy greeted. Immediately returning the courtesy, Lucretzia replied with a similar response. "I'll see you all later, bye."

"Bye," the trio said at the exact same time, not missing a beat. They glanced at each other and corrupted into laughter. 

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

Three teenagers headed towards them, flashing their pierced nose and ears at everyone with their spiked hair sticking up with lots of gel. The leading male out of the three skated towards them with his head held high, a supposedly flattering grin on his above average looking face. But only looks didn't impress these three. "Hey babes, what are you three doing here?" the dark brown-blond haired youth said smugly. 

Beside him, the chocolate-brown haired teenager grinned, his frame slightly bigger than the first teen. One could distinguish his attempts in spiking his hair even though it was too long. He asked a simple question, "You want to join us?" The horror wasn't the question itself but instead when he leaned forward to take Hilde's hand. 

Immediately Lucretzia smacked it harshly and slide protectively in front of her. "Are you asking for a challenge?" Her voice wasn't loud and yet it was demanding. Thankfully she had taken the first step in being polite; keeping her temper while promoting war… against some unknown person. A challenge in the rink meant a speed skating race and of course that meant that they would have to wait until they called for the five minutes where everyone cleared the ice, leaving only the advanced skaters to skate with speed. 

Once again the leader of the group spoke. "I never turn down a challenge. You will want to remember my name when I win. I'm Max, they call me the Ice Demon."

Lucretzia shrugged and led the other two away, speaking just before she left. "I'll see you when they announce it, just make sure you don't chicken out." When they were out of hearing range, the three conversed freely again. It was their forth round around the ring when they had announced for the intermediate to advanced skaters, clearing everyone out of the rink except those who felt that they were able to keep up with the pace. Of course Lu, Hilde and Sally stayed on the ice, having skated for more than several years now. They could see three pairs of eyes staring towards their direction, as if daring them to go faster, but they ignored it and kept skating until they had called for the advanced skaters only. Hilde and Sally decided to stay off the ice during the intense race since it was between Lu and what's-his-name and no one else. Let their enthusiastic friend do the dirty work.

Side by side, Lucretzia and Max explained the rules within a few seconds. They were to rotate from the inside to the outside and the one inside to the outside once they'd done half of the circle. Also, the winner was determined by the number of laps and who was taking the lead when they stopped after five minutes. That was to be determined by the others. Whoever didn't follow them simply _lost. "Go!" Hilde yelled after a count of three and the two sped away. Luckily there were only two other skaters who kept out of the way of their match. Lu, being on the outside was behind, taking the bigger curve. Her blades smashed into the ice, making chunks of ice fly from the impact of her force. Lu allowed him to take the lead, and after two laps she had started noticing a flaw in his tactics. He was trying to keep a large distance between them and try to keep it going until the end. Currently he had showed her what he was, but she hadn't revealed her limit yet. Half a lap ahead; that was the distance he'd managed to get between them and seemingly it kept growing. _I should start catching up soon, there's not much time until it ends. _Most likely, he'd worn himself down a bit after trying to keep ahead and using up his energy. Using the inner land to her advantage, Lucretzia sped up, shortening the gap to a quarter of a lap distance. On the third lap of doing this, she eventually managed to race side by side with him again, grinning at him when he turned to look at her. Surely under this pressure he would go faster, which he did. _

"There's only twenty seconds left!" Sally yelled, unaware of the attention she'd just given herself. The race was intense and it seemed hard to decide which side would win. That is until she noticed the carefree expression implanted into Lucretzia's face. It was as if she thought the race was no challenge, only a warm-up. 

Max was determined to stay in the lead, completing another lap as he passed the starting point again. Just when he thought it was a definite win, Lucretzia too, sped up and followed the wide curve in the outer lane and literally ran on the ice, full speed ahead. She was showing no mercy and within a span of ten seconds, created a distance of half a lap; winning the twenty minute war. 

"I'm going to have heaps of blisters on my feet!" Lucretzia complained as she went off the ice to her friends. She grinned at them before walking over to the losing party. "Hey you, that was fun. By the way, what was your name again?" Lucretzia asked innocently. 

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

Gathering around the table, the group listened as Sally relayed he entire story once again. The dining hall sounded with laughter and light-hearted talk. It was most enjoyable to talk as a group. Even Lucretzia's complaints about her sore feet brought grins and chuckles of laughter, except from herself of course. 

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

**_A/N:_**_ I'm no expert at ice skating… I'm only thinking back to my own experience at ice skating – which is little. I'm not sure whether the next chapter will be up soon or what not because I currently am a very busy writer. 10 ASSIGNMENTS!!! Still more to come... When will the teachers give me a break? . Ja ne!_


	13. Fast Friends

**Perfection**

Chibi Tsuki

N/A: Yeah, I know I've left this story for quite a while and the only reason I wrote this chapter was because I felt like it. I'm sorry to say it doesn't mean that I'll be working on it as much as the others, but when I feel like it. Oh yeah, a mention of thanks for the encouragement to Chibi Noin. Thanks buddie!

Chapter 12

Fast Friends

Sinking into her chair, the youth let out a groan as the pain in her lower back ached. The day right after she had returned from her five day trip to London where her sister lived with her new husband, her friends had dragged her back into her 'how to be well-mannered' lessons. She had been practising how to curtsey properly for the past hour and learning how to 'titter' for the hour before that. Of course, that didn't include the two hours her tutors had used to explain what type of clothes were suitable for this and that occasion. They spoke so quickly that barely gave her time to jot it down in her notes. It had been painful. Lucretzia could still hear Hilde and Sally's voices ringing in her mind. Transferring from the chair and onto her bed, she buried her face into her pillow, and closed her eyes. A few moments later, a little black ball of fluff jumped up onto her bed and curled beside her neck. It snuggled closer to the hot breath of air and promptly dozed off.

Lucretzia felt herself drowning, her throat rasping for air. Her eyelids jerked open, she gasped for a air and then coughed. Short black hairs were stuck to her lips which she made an attempt to spit out. "Midnight," she groaned as the sleep cat head lifted up slightly. Rushing out of the room, she went to the bathroom, filled her mouth with water and spat out the filth. She had rinsed her mouth for the fourth time before wiping her face dry with a towel. Cats had a habit of having a like to sleeping next to warm air, and that included a hot breath. Lu made her way back into the room and took a glance at the clock standing on the bedside table. It was already six o' clock, which meant that she had slightly less than thirty minutes to take a shower, get changed and then head down to the dining hall. Wondering where Sally was, she absent-mindedly selected a pair of cargo pants, a white sleeveless top and a blue and black chequered flannelette shirt from her wardrobe. These she draped over her shoulder, grabbing a clean set of underwear, her towel and some soap and shampoo on the way out. She liked the fact that there was no one to complain to her singing in the shower or protest that she had left her swimming costume hanging on the rails to dry. Life at boarding hadn't ever seemed better.

Although she was early to arrive to the dining hall, she was even more startled to see a few extra students having returned from their vacation sitting at the dining tables. A thought immediately pushed all the others away. _Why is Zechs here? And since when did Louie get back?_ Lifting an eyebrow she looked at the tension between the two teenagers even though they were sitting two tables apart. It seemed that they were having a staring competition of some sort since neither blinked once. "Louie?" Lucretzia uttered, almost uncertain whether she should've said anything. The effect on the duo was in fact, quite surprising. The anxiety simmered down and so she casually walked over to the dark-blond headed boy and took the opposite seat.

"Lu," he greeted enthusiastically. "How have you been?"

"Alright I suppose. When did you… return?" she asked, having paused mid-sentence to change her choice of words.

"Two days ago. I was quite disappointed that you were away. I thought that I would keep you company."

Slightly surprised, she frowned and said, "Then how come I didn't see you yesterday?"

"He was having a shoot-out competition with Merquise over there," Heero muttered as he sat beside her, a thumb pointing over to the loner diagonally behind him. "They were at it for the whole night." After the short basketball match between Heero and Lu, they had become fast friends and even sat with her group although he seldom talked. Louie was personally quite astonished that the famed solitude teen was even sitting with them, nonetheless talking with them.

"Did they?" Before her manners ran off like they usually did, Lucretzia took the initiative to formally introduce the two to each other. "Louie, this is Heero Yuy. Heero, this here is Louie Erans." While Louie held out his hand, Heero gave him a curt nod to acknowledge him instead. More and more people joined the table, and even Noin was slightly surprised that Relena was sitting with them. The whole group had to introduce themselves again, seeing that Relena and Louie had joined them.

Relena stifled a giggle and stood up from her chair and gestured for her brother to join them. Sitting quite alone was Zechs Merquise who seemed rather thankful that Relena had invited him to sit with them, perhaps for a number of reasons. He sat beside his sister and Louie, rather grudgingly though. But then there was a good aspect to it – at least he could sit with Lucretzia. "Ah, the food seems to be ready," Lu announced, standing up from her chair. He studied her sense of fashion with he thought was quite boyish, including her hair. As Zechs watched her from behind, he could almost believe that she was a boy if he hadn't known otherwise. Lu made a very pretty boy indeed.

"Aren't you coming brother?" the honey-blond haired girl asked, nudging him as she followed the others. He nodded and headed up to the serving area.

"Did you take any photos of your stay in London?" Sally asked her friend beside her between small mouthfuls.

Lucretzia nodded and replied thoughtfully, "Yes, a few, but the negatives are still waiting to be developed. My sister's most likely going to send them to me once they're done." She turned to look at Zechs who had been the only one silent throughout dinner. "Zechs, did you and Relena go anywhere during the time you were away?" Happy that she had asked, Zechs nodded, although not as enthusiastically as he felt.

"We did. We went on a cruise for a few days," he replied as he politely placed his fork down. "The boat we were on was quite impressive."

When he didn't elaborate, Relena continued for him, "It was really nice out there on the sea. The weather had been perfect too."

"I guess that explains about the tans you two have," Hilde commented with a chuckle. Beside her Quatre was chewing quietly while absorbing every single word they said.

"We had wanted to go scuba diving as well, but since the area wasn't safe enough, I had to be happy with swimming in the pool while Zechs went fishing on the boat."

"Did you end up catching anything Zechs?" Noin asked, with a hint of it being a joke.

Zechs, being modest replied with a sigh, "Absolutely nothing." When his sister began to laugh at him, he protested. "I tried and that's what counts." Even the others around them grinned at the affectionate display of brother-sister love in the form of a teasing. Louie couldn't help but break a smile. He had let his prejudice blind him. Zechs seemed to be an easy-going guy, ready to make friends with most people. If Heero had a different side to him, even Zechs could have one.

At breakfast, Sally had suggested playing tennis since holidays were soon coming to an end. Nobody had any other planned activities and so they all agreed to the suggestion. Most of the girls were wearing tennis skirts, with the exception of Lucretzia and Sally donning shorts and collared t-shirts. Lu stood out the most among the girls; her blue knee-length shorts with white hems contrasting against the pale coloured skirts and shorts the girls wore. Unlike them, the guys were wearing assorted coloured shorts, standing out against their white school sport t-shirts. Their numbers were perfect – there were eight people in total and that meant they could play two matches at the same time as pairs. Sally had them draw paddle pop sticks, with two having the same number. Separating the paddle pop sticks into two groups, she handed one bunch to Quatre for them to pick and the others they picked between themselves. Since the groups were ready, they were about to separate onto the two courts when Zechs and Louie demanded, pointing at each other, "Why am I with him?" It was a simple mistake in which Sally had accidentally put the wrong stick in the bunch. They reselected their numbers and set off finally to start their games.

"I hope you're as good as tennis as you are at basketball," Lu muttered to her partner as they were about to receive the first serve.

Zechs glanced at her and with a smile said, "You'll see when we start." Even though she had seen him play before, she was simply being friendly.

On the next court, Louie frowned as he watched the pair. His protective feelings towards Lu were still there, especially when Zechs was around her even though he had accepted him somewhat as a friend. "Louie, are you going to serve yet?" Hilde asked, subtly urging him to start. Noticing the waiting he was inflicting on the others, he apologised rather shamefacedly and began the serve.

They played three rounds before taking a break and sitting down on the benches. The sun had been relentless and didn't hold back its heat. Zechs wiped the sweat off his face with a small white towel, leaving it hanging around his neck while he took a mouthful of water. His wrist guard proved to be heavily saturated as he placed the thing beside him. "I must admit Relena, you and Heero make a difficult pair," he exclaimed as he attempted to fan himself with his hand.

"Of course, we have yet to show you our true abilities, right Heero?" Relena boasted jokingly, and gave her partner a nudge. Looking mildly amused, the boy simply shrugged as if he didn't care.

Zechs covered a smirk. "And yet you still lost."

"So much for being a gentleman," Louie said as he and the others approached them. From his tone, it almost sounded as if he was teasing him. "For what reason do the girls flock you? Care to give us some advice?" Stretching his tired arms, Louie plonked down beside him.

"You seem to underestimate yourself dear friend," Zechs replied. "I've seen many girls watching you."

With a less than dignified snort, Louie muttered, "It sounds as if I'm some sort of bird."

"Think of yourself as a beautiful parrot instead," Lucretzia suggested with a chuckle. She bent down to pick up something from the ground. "How did you get out here Midnight?" The night coloured animal crouched on her owner's lap and lovingly purred at each of the caressing strokes on her back.

"It's a cute little kitten," Zechs asked, reaching over scratch it behind its ears. The kitten continued to purr happily, loving the attention everyone was giving her. She didn't seem to mind Zechs, and animals were very good judges of people and things. "So her name is Midnight?" It was more of a statement than anything else. After chatting for another fifteen minutes, the group started their second match, swapping opponents. They played the entire time until lunchtime.

Just slightly after dawn, Lucretzia had woken up with the desire of a good swimming session, especially since she had neglected it for the past week. Sally was still sleeping deeply when she had left for the swimming pool. Wisely she had left Midnight in her friend's care, not wanting the cat to drown at any point. As she entered the swimming pool, she greeted one of the pool staff, placed her towel on a chair and stripped off her clothes, revealing a one-piece swimming costume underneath. Diving into one of the lanes, she started off practising freestyle, doing ten laps of the fifty metre pool before switching strokes to butterfly. Although she kept a slow and steady pace, her strokes were powerful. It was half an hour later before someone else entered the swimming pool. She continued to swim, ignoring the newcomer, but soon her body felt desperate for a break and so she swam to the steps and climbed out. Water dripped from her body as she walked to sit down at the edge of the pool. Glancing at the other swimmer, she noticed him also climbing out, his familiar platinum blond hair plastered on his broad back. So it was Zechs Merquise. "Zechs," she greeted as he approached her. Also he was still in the early ages of growth, she could see the obvious hints of muscles especially in his biceps and calf muscles. On his naked torso, she noticed the faint lines of a six-pack.

"Good morning Lu," he said, with a brilliantly lit smile. "It's a pleasant surprise to see you this morning. Have you finished?"

With a shake of a head, Lucretzia replied, "No," and asked him why he had left the pool so quickly. It turned out that he had lost his hair-tie that retrained his hair from obscuring his vision and he was going to ask for a rubber band until he noticed her. "You shouldn't use rubber bands. They get tangled in your hair when you try to take them out."

"I know. But it'll have to do for now." Lu began to rummage through her bag of toiletries, having decided to take a shower before returning to her room. She was triumphant in her find, producing a thin elastic band from the bag. She handed it over to Zechs, insisting that he use it. They chatted for a moment longer before returning to the pool and finishing the rest of the laps. By the time they had finished, it was already close to eight thirty. They headed back to the dormitories with Zechs insisting that he accompanied her to the entrance of the girl's dormitories.

"Thank you very much for the use of the elastic band," he said as they walked down the corridor. "I'll return it later, once I've washed and dried it."

"Never mind, Zechs. You'll probably have more use of it than me. I used to have long hair, but now with my hair so short, I can't even tie it up."

"Are you sure?" He received a cheery nod as his reply. "Thank you." Allowing a short pause, he smiled and looked slightly down at her, "You're very talented in all different types of sports."

"I'm not really. I just like sports," she replied.

"Don't be modest." Before he could ask anything else, they had already reached the dormitories. "I'm sorry I can't walk any further with you – school rules. Well I'll see you at breakfast."

"See you then." She swiped her school ID card against the identification scanner. The glass doors opened automatically, allowing her to walk through before shutting behind her. This security system prevented outsiders, especially the male species from entering the female dormitories. Male relatives only could enter if they were with their female host or with one of the approved boarding school staff.

Zechs watched Lucretzia as she entered the door before making his way down to his dormitories. He was on his way to have a quick shower as well. As he swiped his card to go inside, he glanced at the security camera. Whenever he was going in, he had always felt that there was someone watching and that was because of the security cameras. As he headed to the bathrooms, he was thinking of the Lu. She was still fifteen, or possibly fourteen and her body hadn't fully developed yet. But he could see the soft, feminine curves in her body. The swimmers had emphasised that, in particular her hips, although he could still see that her chest was rather flat, but that would grow in a few years. Albeit he was brought up as a gentleman, he couldn't erase the male thoughts from his mind. He was still human like everyone else, except he tried to refrain taking glimpses of pornographic stuff. His relationship with Lucretzia was going smoothly and he had his sister's connections to thank. When he had tried to approach her before, she never seemed to notice him or was perhaps feeling awkward around him. He only hoped that that they would continue to communicate when school started and people from their groups returned. Aside from that, he had made quite good friends with Relena's friends, and was confident to say that she had acquired good steadfast friends who would be ready to support her when she needed it. He turned on the shower and stepped in, glad for the warmth that had settled not only on his body but in his heart. His reflection had brought his heart contentment. Pouring the peach scented shampoo into his hand, he mixed it with water into lather and smelled it. Creases of folds formed on his forehead as he wondered how one of Relena's favourite scented shampoo brand had gotten into his possessions, and could only shrug. He'd have to question her later. For now he'd have to cope with the stench of peach emitting from his long, glorious hair.

Disclaimer: I don't own Gundam W.


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